They were about on their last legs even before they began wandering the halls once more. All of them were limping, and covered with myriad wounds; even in the darkness of the castle, Pale could see weeping scratches and large bruises across almost everyone's body.

The one exception was Allen, who had started to improve dramatically ever since being infected and turned. His skin had whitened, leaving it a dull pale, and red was already creeping into the corners of his irises. Even beyond that, Pale could see his muscles rippling with every step as his body adjusted to its newfound strength and speed. He was limiting himself in order to keep pace with them, Pale knew. And yet, as obvious as all of that was, there was one thing that bothered her.

"You're grimacing," she noted as they walked. "Is everything okay?"

"No," Allen grunted, shaking his head.

"What's the matter?"

He hesitated before heaving a sigh of resignation. "...I can sense your heartbeats, all of you. Beyond that… I am becoming extremely hungry, and you all are beginning to smell appetizing."

Evie bristled from her spot next to him. "We need to hurry this up," she urged. "Before he loses control-"

"I am not about to lose control," Allen hissed to her. "It's just… an observation I couldn't help but make."

"Pale?" Kayla interjected. "We're all assuming Captain Allen is going to die during this fight, but… what if he survives?"

That thought gave Pale pause. Truthfully, she hadn't considered that yet, preoccupied as she'd been with simply trying to stay alive. After a few seconds, she shook her head.

"...We'll have to cross that particular bridge when we come to it," she reluctantly answered. "As of now, ruminating upon it will do us no good. We need to focus on hunting down Vincent."

"And where do you think he is?" Kayla interjected. "He could be anywhere in the castle…"

"If I may?" Evie cut in. "I suspect he's looking for someone he can feed off of – someone still alive. If he does that, he can regain some of his lost strength." She turned to Allen. "Is there anyone else in the castle that he could feed upon?"

Allen thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. There was someone – the Duke's son – but he left a few nights ago, before all this started."

Evie raised an eyebrow. "...Duke Magnus' son was here? For what purpose?"

"He was studying for his own entry exam into the Luminarium. What does it matter?" Allen said, impatient. "The point is, we're the only ones still alive in this castle, I'd imagine – the rest of the guards and Lord Faron have already been killed off, and that means there was nobody left to defend the others. That or they tried to make it home to their families when all of this started going down, and we can all guess how that went." Allen spat. "Damn vampire… I am going to tear his head from his shoulders when I get my hands on him."

"Unfortunately, that wouldn't be enough to kill him. He could regenerate from that, given enough time."

"Who said anything about killing him outright? I want him to suffer for what he's done here."

"Focus," Pale urged. "Our job here is to stop him, not torture him. Do not sacrifice pragmatism for vengeance. If you have the chance to kill him for good, don't take the risk."

Allen's eyes narrowed, but he didn't offer any arguments. The four of them continued limping through the castle halls, creeping silently through them as the blizzard continued to rage outside.

Finally, after several minutes, Kayla's ears perked up. Pale held out a hand to stop the others, and they all silently turned to Kayla. Wordlessly, Kayla nodded in the direction of the throne room. Pale's jaw tightened, and she returned Kayla's nod with one of her own.

Without saying anything further, they all commenced moving once more.

XXX

Pale wasn't sure what to expect when they came bursting through the doors to the throne room. She knew Vincent would be there along with Faron's body, but that could never have prepared her for what she saw upon entering.

Faron's body was still there, but over it, up in the rafters, was a large, inky-black chrysalis. What it was made of, she had no idea – all she could tell was that it wasn't a compound familiar to her.

And above all, she knew that was where Vincent had retreated to.

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"Evie, what is this?"

Silence greeted her. Pale scowled, then turned towards her. "Evie?"

That snapped Evie out of her stupor. She blinked, then turned to Pale. "...I didn't think he'd do it," she whispered. "I was wondering why he had taken Faron's soul, and now I know… it's a ritual, Pale. That cocoon is protection for him so he can cast a ritual."

Pale's scowl deepened. "And what is he planning on doing?"

Evie bit her lip. "...I don't know," she confessed. "But whatever it is, it can't be good. Most of these undead rituals involve invoking the power of the Underworld for some evil purpose. We need to get him out of there before he can complete whatever he's trying to do."

Allen let out a low grunt and went to take a step forward, but as soon as his footsteps resounded against the floor, a pulse of energy swept through the room, emanating out from the chrysalis. Pale doubled over, the air driven out of her lungs; she wasn't sure what had just washed over her, but whatever it was, it felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. She let out a low cough, and as she did so, the chrysalis began to pulse once more.

Then, to her horror, it began to glow with a bright purple light.

"He's close to completing the ritual!" Evie managed to get out through gritted teeth. "We need to stop him now!"

"Allen!" Kayla said as she dropped to her knees.

But it was no use. Even Allen, despite his new empowerment, was doubled over in pain. A sudden bolt of searing pain lanced through her arm, and Pale brought a shaking hand up and rolled up her sleeve, then stared in horror as the veins underneath her skin began to darken. Capillaries burst beneath her flesh, and she watched as the trail of red beneath her skin began to trace up her arm, towards her heart.

That was all she needed to see. With what little strength she had left, Pale willed herself to snap her fingers, and a few seconds later, a pod came bursting through the ceiling, impacting against the chrysalis. The pod broke on impact, sending several weapons and their assorted ammunition scattering across the ground. At the same time, the chrysalis was knocked loose from the ceiling and fell to the floor below, where it shattered like glass.

Vincent came spilling out of the chrysalis, looking disheveled. He blinked, then struggled to his feet as they did the same. They all took a moment to collect their bearings, staring each other down as they did so.

"Unfortunate," Vincent spat. "A few more seconds, and I would have had you."

"What are you trying to do?" Evie demanded.

"What does it matter?" Vincent stood up straight, then cracked his neck in preparation. "You're all about to-"

That was far as he got before Allen flung himself forwards, a feral roar erupting from his throat. Vincent flinched at Allen's speed, and the two men collided, then began trading bare-handed blows. Despite everything, the two of them matched each other blow for blow – for every strike Allen got, Vincent got one as well.

But it had to end sooner rather than later. There was a sickening sound of shattering bone and tearing flesh, and as Pale watched, Vincent tore Allen's heart right out of his chest. He held the stilled organ up, grimacing when he saw it was already inky-black, cold, and no longer beating.

"What a waste…" he muttered as he dropped Allen's heart onto the ground, next to his body. Allen's eyes stared up lifelessly, and Vincent stepped over the freshly-made corpse. He was moving slowly, however, and Pale realized why as she stared at him, her eyes drawn to the hilt of the knife jutting out of his ribcage.

Still, that didn't stop her from tensing, even as she and her companions readied their own improvised silver weapons. Vincent continued to lurch forward, limping with every step.

He had just about made it to them when a hand suddenly wrapped around his leg, then tore it clean off at the knee.

Vincent fell to the ground, a scream of pain tearing its way out of his throat. He tried to fight, but Allen simply rolled over on top of him, then began laying into him with his fists, his bag of silver weapons having been forgotten in lieu of sheer rage. Pale stared at the display for a moment, stunned and unsure of what to make of it, before she realized what had happened. Allen's heart was still outside of his body, but tendrils of black magic had started pulling it back into his chest, and it was steadily inching its way along the ground as his body rapidly knitted itself back together.

And through it all, Allen's eyes blazed a bright, crimson red.

"Move in, now!" Pale shouted to the others. "Take Vincent out while we have a chance!"

They both shouted affirmations, then sprinted forwards as fast as their wounded bodies would allow. They closed the gap just as Vincent's leg finished reattaching itself and he reached for Allen once more, but it was already too late. Kayla had gotten there first, and was already sticking him full of as many pieces of silver as she could, with Evie and Pale not far behind her. Within moments, Vincent had roughly two dozen pieces of it jutting out of his body, and his struggles had begun to wane.

Seeing her chance, Pale grabbed Allen by the shoulder and roughly pushed him off, then motioned to Kayla.

"Do it, Kayla!"

Kayla didn't wait for further confirmation. She pointed a hand at Vincent, then mustered the last of her strength for one final spell. A large blast of flame erupted from her palm, completely engulfing Vincent's body. He thrashed on the ground as he burned, another scream forcing its way out of him, but it was too late. The flames consumed him in an instant, burning him to little more than a charred skeleton faster than Pale could have imagined. And then, even once his flesh had been consumed by the fire, it continued to burn, blackening the bones and eventually reducing them to nothing but ash.

And then, just like that, it was over. Kayla lowered her hand, swaying from side to side, and then closed her eyes and fell over, unconscious; Evie hurriedly caught her before she could hit the floor, and then gently lowered her to the ground.

"Is she okay?" Pale asked, concerned.

"Yeah, she's fine," Evie confirmed. "Just exhausted. I think that spell took the very last of her energy."

Pale breathed a sigh of relief, turning her attention back to Allen. He was doubled over, his shoulders heaving and his body shrouded by a black aura as it roughly stitched itself back together. Tentatively, she took a step towards him, only to freeze when he suddenly whipped around to face her, staring at her with a predator's gaze. Their eyes met, and for a moment, Pale was worried they'd have to fight a second vampire.

But then, as she stared, Allen closed his eyes, took a breath, and the aura surrounding him dissipated. When he opened his eyes again, they were a dull red rather than a blazing crimson.

"...Captain?" she ventured.

"I'm fine…" he told her. "I just… I'm hungry, and tired."

"Hells, I think we all are…" Evie muttered. She slumped against a nearby wall, the weight leaving her shoulders as she sighed. Slowly, she turned to Pale. "What a night…"

Pale said nothing, instead looking out of the hole in the roof that her pod had made. Outside, the howling blizzard had given way to little more than a gentle snowfall. She watched the snowflakes as they fell, the moonlight seeming to almost reflect off of them. She blinked, then looked over to Evie and gave her a gentle nod.

"Yeah," she said. "What a night."