The tension in the room could be cut with a blade, the vampire held everyone’s focus. He continued to blanket the area in an oppressive energy, making it harder for Kaelem to breathe. He could feel his pulse pounding against his temples as his gaze swept over the party again.

“Such a waste, but I appreciate you all having the conviction to meet your maker,” the vampire sneered in a cold and mocking tone. He began to move forward, each movement smooth, a gesture of unfathomable power. He raised his arms out from his sides, the shadows responding to his movement as they began to coalesce on the floor tiles.

The shadows began to pulsate, forming pools that rhythmically vibrated like a pulse. Clawed hands emerged from the shadows, digging into the tiles and pulling themselves up out from the ground. A larger group of vampire thralls rose up from the shadows on the floor, their faces sunken, barely human. Unlike the group that had ambushed them, these were feral monstrosities that had completely submitted their will to their leader.

The thralls lunged at them, splitting the team’s formation. Olrik and Annara charged first, swinging their weapons in sync as Olrik cleaved through two thralls. While Annara weaved through them with her elegant sword style, slashing at them in a dance of blades.

Vex conjured more orbs of light, exploding in a series of blinding bursts that turned the thralls into a firework display. Rod’s arrows whistled through the air, finding their targets and reducing them to smoldering ash.

As the rest of the party engaged with the thralls, Kaelem noticed the vampire seemed to be commanding them from the back and took the opportunity to try and disrupt him.

The vampire slowly turned his head, locking eyes with Kaelem. An amused smile appeared on his face. “I see you’re the weakest here,” his voice was laced with mockery. “A mere pup.”

Kaelem tightened his grip on the handle of his blade staff, trying to mentally prepare himself. His body was tingling with nerves, but he was gathering his power as if readying himself to explode. “I wouldn’t be so sure,” he replied, glaring back at the vampire. He entered a basic stance, the sharp edge of the blade pointing at the vampire.

The vampire approached him with casual disdain, each step taunting him. He had already deemed Kaelem to be beneath him. His steps were slow at first, as if he was floating on the shadows beneath his feet. But then with blistering speed, the vampire appeared in front of Kaelem, his claws extended and slashing towards Kaelem’s throat.

Kaelem barely managed to deflect the attack with his staff, his arms trembling as it collided with the vampire’s claws, there was a force like he had never felt behind each blow. The vampire’s claws slashed with the blade, taking a finger as the vampire withdrew his hand in recoil.

“A cold iron blade?” he eyed the weapon with an unsettling gleam in his eyes. “Clever, but not enough.”

Behind Kaelem, Olrik was dispatching thralls as quickly as they emerged from the shadows. Annara weaved around him as she slashed at any vampires that approached Olrik’s blind spot, allowing him to focus on what was in front of him.

Vex and Rod had regrouped to fight together as well, Rod was releasing arrows as the thrall approached them, pivoting around Vex. Giving her time to draw runes into the air to unleash spell after spell, in a magical barrage but for every thrall they took care of, another seemingly rose from the shadows.

As Kaelem continued to block and dodge the vampire’s onslaught, he felt the familiar wriggling of the darkness buried in his core.

‘Duck… Right… Block…’ he heard the eerie voice whispering in his mind, drowning out all of his other senses.

He couldn’t afford the willpower to resist, despite his senses telling him not to give in to the power. But based on instinct he took the darkness's advice. He found it anticipated the vampire’s strikes with an uncanny precision. Once he gave in to its advice, his body began reacting to it before his mind could even comprehend the voice or the attack.

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He sidestepped a lethal strike, countering with a downward swipe of his blade staff. Slicing cleanly into its flesh, the blood bubbling as it reacted to the metal of the blade.

“Damn cold iron…” the vampire snarled in pain, glancing at the infected wound on its arm which was refusing to regenerate.

Kaelem heard Olrik’s laugh bellowing as the whispers temporarily subsided, he had been keeping an eye on Kaelem’s fight. “Looks like I’m gonna owe Branor after this!” he yelled as he tore through another thrall.

Kaelem was struck with the realization, he had been too focused in the moment the last time the vampire mentioned it. But the cold iron blade on his staff must have been the reason Branor was looking for something particular, an insurance policy for Olrik’s new party member to help him survive against monsters despite his inexperience.

Kaelem didn’t have time to dwell on it, the vampire was closing in again, his cocky demeanor replaced with murderous intent.

The whispering in his mind returned, warning him of the danger. His power became more volatile beneath the surface. An uncomfortable writhing began to spread through his stomach. Like vines spreading out, they wrapped around his heart overwhelming him into complete submission.

Kaelem looked up, his eyes jet black and void of life. He focused on the vampire, channeling the darkness within himself. As the vampire reached for his face, claws outstretched, Kaelem casually grabbed the vampire’s wrist. The vampire’s eyes widened as a brutal snap echoed around the room, he withdrew from Kaelem’s grasp clutching his wrist.

After a moment his wrist regenerated, but the same murderous intent was now laced with panic. He didn’t know what had changed, but this boy was no longer an opponent he could afford to fight without taking it seriously.

Kaelem had become immersed in the darkness, his sense of self slowly eroding. He walked confidently towards the vampire.

The vampire had other ideas, reaching out as the runes for blood and life flickered in the air. The prisoners confined around the room began to writhe in pain as the vampire began to absorb their lifeforce, blood and magic being drawn to him through the air from the cages. The vampire sneered proudly as he took in the power.

The villagers with enough energy to move began screaming, their life force now being drawn into the vampire. Their bodies slumped as their faces became pale and hollow, feeding the vampire. His flesh wound on his arm began to heal and his power was now swelling.

“No!” Kaelem shouted, his voice carrying an unusual chorus as if two people were speaking.

Kaelem rushed forward, appearing in front of the vampire as he thrust his blade staff towards his chest, but the vampire sidestepped, laughing.

“Their suffering is because of you,” he said coldly. With a snap of his fingers he drew another thrall out from the shadows, twisted and monstrous. It hulked over Olrik letting out a guttural roar.

Vex maneuvered around the battlefield to assist Olrik in the fight against the hulking Thrall, the pair acknowledging each other as the party worked to free Kaelem from distractions. The creature moved with supernatural agility, pushing Olrik back and leaping towards Rod with brutal ferocity.

Rod was covering Annara, he could barely react before the giant Thrall was on top of him. Crumpling him into the floor and pounding the ground and Rod’s chest in fury. Olrik charged forwards, his warhammer covered in a towering shield made of golden light. He shoved the creature back and continued to charge, pinning it into the wall.

Annara quickly ran over to Rod, swiping at the smaller thralls on her way. She checked his condition before grabbing the collar of his leather armor and moving him to safety. “He’s still breathing!” she shouted at Vex as Annara began to perform first aid using medical supplies from within Rod’s armor.

Vex refocused on assisting Olrik, the pair of them managing to contain the beast, though Vex was multitasking as she also focused on maintaining a barrier over Annara and Rod.

Kaelem’s adrenaline surged as he stood facing the vampire, his tunnel vision numbing him to what was going on with the rest of the group behind him. He reaffirmed his grip on his blade staff before charging forward.

“You’re alone now,” the vampire whispered, meeting Kaelem with a blade of his own made of blood magic. A greatsword that was blood red, appearing wet but the edges shined with an unnatural sharpness.

The darkness in Kaelem spread like poison, coursing through his entire body it now guided his every move. It went further than a whisper now, he could sense the vampire’s intent, his next strike, his next feint. His body was no longer in his control.

The vampire withdrew his blade, turning it in the air and swiping towards Kaelem’s exposed side. Kaelem parried the attack, pushing the greatsword aside with the body of his staff before slashing downwards with the blade. Cutting deep into the chest of the vampire, it snarled in Kaelem’s face.

But Kaelem didn’t stop there, he slashed again and again. Cutting into the vampire, he then began to thrust the blade repeatedly, each strike now empowered by the darkness.

“You weren’t expecting that, were you?” Kaelem hissed.

The vampire recoiled in fury and surprise, staring at Kaelem and lost for words. Each hit had weakened him, the vampire now at a disadvantage and beginning to feel like a rat in a corner. However its rage and pride made it unyielding, snarling at Kaelem as it unleashed a torrent of shadows towards him.

Kaelem’s legs were impaled by blood red tendrils that erupted through the shadows on the floor, locking his legs in place. His expression was blank, not reacting to the pain as the darkness had completely consumed him. As he attempted to force himself out of the tendrils, a prison made of shadow engulfed him. Completely surrounding him in a shadowy void, deprived of his senses. He was now floating in darkness, unable to see, move or speak.