“Who would do this?” Jonathan asked as dark particles swirled around Lucy. Her eyes were closed while she chanted in a low tone. She gradually got louder, until she opened her obsidian black eyes. A shadow of what looked like a claw stretched from her fingers, dipping into the centaur’s chest as her hand trembled in concentration.

Bile rose up in Jonathan’s throat as the claw pulled out a dark centipede from Axtrrpuq. It squirmed violently, trying in vain to free itself from Lucy’s grasp. She clenched her fist in a crushing movement and disintegrated the shadowy bug.

“I… I don’t understand.” Lucy furrowed her eyebrows. “This is a vampiric curse. I thought I was the only vampire left in England.”

“Actually, you’re not.” Jonathan folded his arms. “Do you know a vampire named ‘Michael O’Cornell’? He attacked me yesterday.”

“Can’t say that I do, though nine hundred years of existence is bound to make me a little forgetful.” Lucy soothed the centaur, who was now coughing violently. “Why are you tangled up with another vampire anyway?”

“It’s a long story. Let’s see to…” Jonathan’s voice trailed away into an incoherent mumble, gesturing vaguely at Axtrrpuq. “...‘Ax-r-pul’ first.”

The centaur’s eyes shot open at the horrible mispronunciation of his name and let out a fearful whinny. He scrambled to his feet, backing away desperately from Lucy.

“Vampire, vampire!” he screamed in an old Scottish accent. “I truly has’t not what ye seek! Hath mercy, hath mercy!”

“Axtrrpuq, hearken to me! Calm thy emotions!” Lucy placated Axtrrpuq frantically. “Tis I, Carpenter! We mean thee no harm. Who didst this to thou?”

“I knoweth not.” Axtrrpuq gradually calmed down and propped himself up with his four hooves. He shifted his stall upright and began picking up pieces of paper strewn across the floor with his other four arms. “That vampire cameth not long before thee; his dark magic so potent, I could sense it even from the moment he didst step onto this floor.”

“For what hath he attacketh thou?”

“He didst demand a special Fulu to separateth soul from body. But imbuing such foul magic wouldst taketh centuries away from mine own life, and thus did I refuse. In a fit of rage, he tore down mine own store and put a curse on me.”

“Well, this is kinda awkward…” Jonathan put a hand behind his head. “We’re actually here for protection talismans against holy magic too.”

“Ah, but that I doth provide, good sir!” Axtrrpuq chirped, recovering remarkably quickly from the fact that he had just been attacked. “Not all demonic magic is foul. Talismans for thee both?”

“Uhm… just the lady. I’m good.” Jonathan replied, hoping he understood the heavily accented archaic English correctly. Axtrrpuq fished out a golden strip with carvings and handed it to Lucy, but she refused it with an intense look on her face.

“He’s still here.” Lucy’s eyes glowed red as she snapped her head around jerkily. Jonathan swallowed a gasp as her head swivelled at an angle that would break most necks. She quickly pulled out a pistol and aimed at a shadow.

A burst of light flashed from the dark corner, and Jonathan rushed forward to shield her. They screamed simultaneously as the light knocked them off the ledge and sent them crashing onto the second floor. Lucy scrambled to her feet, aiming her weapon at the man rising from the shadows on the ground. She lowered it slightly as he stepped into the light.

“Michael O’Cornell, you again…” Jonathan raised his fists hostilely as electricity danced around it. Lucy gave him a confused look and turned back to the man before a look of realisation crossed her face.

“Really, Leo?” she scoffed. “Is that truly the best name you could come up with?”

“At least I did not resort to reusing my birth name,” Michael hissed in response. “Salve, sweoster. I thought I got rid of you centuries ago. We vampires certainly are hard to destroy, aren’t we?”

Jonathan’s eyes drifted to the red gem poking out of his coat pocket. It was glowing hot, and seemed to pulse as though it was some kind of crystal brain. A stirring in his own soul pulsed in response, and he felt almost as though he could sense the intentions of the red crystal.

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That man means to kill us!

Michael snarled as golden flames erupted from his fingers without warning. They spun off from the appendages and flew towards Lucy. She attempted to dodge them, but they seemed to be homing in on her. The vampire shrieked in pain, writhing on the ground as the balls of fire struck her. The fire dispersed upon impact, leaving a slight glow on her skin that seemed to be the cause of her agony.

“This is but a fraction of the pain you caused her,” Michael growled as a wooden stake slipped into his hand. Golden fire coated it again as he threw it at Lucy without warning. Jonathan darted forward to block the projectile, but a figure dropped down in front of him from nowhere. It sliced the stake cleanly in half with a glowing sword.

“Duncan!” Jonathan gasped. “Where did you come from? Why are you here?”

“I happened to be in the area, and I detected a strong surge of dark magic.” Duncan tossed a colourful fine powder onto Lucy, and she stopped screaming. She lay trembling on the floor, burn marks decorating her skin.

Glowing patterns flashed along Duncan’s clothes as he kept his sword up. “Have care; no ordinary vampire can wield holy fire. He draws power from another source.”

“Ah, you finally present yourself.” Michael coated his arm with golden flames in response. “And there I was beginning to doubt B- HRRK!”

Jonathan grinned tauntingly at the vampire as he yanked a bloodied half of the stake back out from his chest. Michael stumbled backwards, gripping the hole in his torso as he fell to his knees. He lifted a shaky finger at the speedster as his lips trembled.

“N-no… no… I’m… perishing…” he groaned. “That… that was…”

Michael stopped shaking as he looked up at Jonathan with a sinister laugh.

“...A nice try.” He removed his hand from his chest, revealing it had perfectly healed.

“Impossible…” Duncan whispered in disbelief. Jonathan felt a hand on his shoulder, and he was flung into a wall with incredible force. Stone rained down on him, pinning him onto the ground. Jonathan tried to wriggle out of the rubble, but he was stuck firmly. He growled in frustration. Why couldn’t super strength come along with his durability?

Duncan took the cue to strike. Drawing a shimmering pentagram in the air, he screamed something in Latin and a winged being flew out of the diagram. The entity dispersed its circular form, throwing hundreds of its reddish eyes at Michael. Golden fire spat from the vampire’s mouth in retaliation. The eyes continued pelting themselves against him, unaffected by the flames.

With an anguished shriek, Michael spread the giant bat wings that had materialised on his back. A shockwave composed of dark particles burst outwards from the motion. The eyes reeled away, reforming themselves back into the circular being. It retreated in a puff of smoke, which Duncan cut through. He lunged towards the vampire, aiming his shining sword at Michael’s heart.

Michael stepped away, and the sword pierced his side harmlessly instead. Yellowish claws burst from Duncan’s back in response as Michael drove his hand into his chest. The witch doctor struggled futilely as the vampire lifted him up.

“Your tricks irritate me, witch.” Michael raised his other hand, and a shadowy claw extended from it. “I would very much like to destroy you now, but you have something I desire.”

Duncan laughed in his face as his head began to glow and vibrate violently. Michael looked at him in confusion before shrieking in realisation. The claw vanished as he struggled to dislodge his claws, but he was too slow.

The witch doctor’s head exploded, and the vampire flinched violently from the impact. An inhuman sounding screech filled the air as he stumbled around. Michael was missing half of his face as well as a good chunk of his upper body. Duncan, on the other hand, fell to his knees on the ground. He fumbled and propped his headless body up as his skull began reforming itself.

Jonathan barely noticed the rocks being pushed off him. He took Lucy’s hand and stood up, brushing the crushed rocks from his body. They looked on grimly as Michael rapidly regenerated his missing flesh.

“Something’s wrong.” Lucy was panting slightly. “My brother is healing too quickly.”

“It has gotta be that gem in his pocket,” Jonathan muttered.

“And he just put up a dark shield around him.” Lucy looked at Duncan, whose head was still a bunch of veins surrounding a skull. “Alright, I shall break his shield. You get the gem.”

Jonathan nodded as Lucy transformed into a large wolf. She lunged towards her brother and sank her teeth into the dark glowing bubble surrounding him. The animal bit hard, cracking the shield into pieces while Jonathan rushed forward and swiped the gem from Michael’s coat. He turned back, waving the gem victoriously. Only to realise he was just a moment too late.

Jonathan’s expression of joy quickly turned into horror as Lucy’s excruciating scream pierced the air. She rolled on the ground; her entire body now engulfed completely by golden flames. He rushed over and began running circles around her to suck out the oxygen, but it seemed that holy fire was sustained by more than simple physics.

“We must away!” Duncan’s voice yelled over the screaming woman as a rectangular portal opened under both of them.

Jonathan fell.