Keir turned to his soldiers, “Men stay out here. I won't be long. Von you may come in.”

Stepping into his lab after so long felt like coming home to Keir. The work tables, writing desk, surgical slabs, the tools, his notes, they were all as he'd left them over three hundred years ago. The specimens, chemicals, elixirs and everything else perishable were gone. Jaris had likely removed them centuries ago as part of his duties. His old servant had done his duties well, the room only had a thin layer of dust coating it, other than that everything was in working order and clean.

Von stepped into the room and took a seat. His face was pale, and the mage winced in pain as he rested his bandaged arm on his lap. The loss of the hand had slowed the man down a fair bit, and even with magic the healing was taking a long time.

“I'm sorry about the mess, sir,” Jaris said as he walked over to a locked cabinet. “When you did not return, I went to sleep, waking every ten years to tidy things up. It's been three years since I last woke.”

“Don't worry, Jaris. You've done your duties far better than anyone could expect. Do you know what's been happening in the world?”

“No, sir. I've had no need to step outside. Is it serious? And if I may ask, is it why you have come back as a rather fetching young lady?”

A blush came to his cheeks, no one who knew his real identity had complimented his body. Admired and leered at it, yes, but a compliment had never been forthcoming. He didn't know how to feel about that. “Demons have taken most of the continent, killing everyone they capture. I was resurrected to help fight them.”

“And this is why you want the information on vampires?”

“Yes.”

Jaris sighed, despite not needing to breathe it was an ingrained habit from when he was alive. “Fighting fire with fire. I see death hasn't changed you.”

“What are vampires?” Von asked. The mage had been listening quietly while studying the room, but now the curiosity was clear on his face.

Smiling, Keir answered him. “There is an old myth of an undead monster that feeds on blood at night. It was a popular ghost story to scare children when I was a boy. When I was studying the soul, I made one by accident.”

His ghostly servant shivered, even as it slowly opened the elaborate locks, magical and mundane, that held the cabinet closed. Keir couldn't blame the old ghost, it was the vampire that had killed him.

The mage looked confused. “You've created dozens of monsters in your time, why haven't I heard of this vampire?”

“Because I killed it and locked the notes away,” Keir said. “It was impossible to control, savage, and damn hard to kill, worst of all it could heal itself by draining the blood or soul of others. I lost six good men and women before I could destroy it. Jaris was the only one who kept his soul after the vampire killed him, allowing me to create a ghost from his memories and personality. For the rest there wasn't enough left to salvage anything.”

“If vampires are so hard to control, and so dangerous, why would you want to create more of them?”

“Because I have an idea how I can control them, at least enough to make them only attack the demons. These binding tattoos should work on them. I simply have to make one that keeps them from attacking humans, and they'll go after demons instead.” Keir grinned at the mage, it wasn't a nice smile. “I should thank you for giving me such wonderful new ideas.”

Von ignored the comment. “Is that all you want from here, the notes on vampires?”

“No, there are several other things, but that is the most important.”

Walking around the large room, he saw one of the things he wanted, a perfect white quartz sphere that fit neatly in the palm of his hand. Holding it tightly, he felt the warmth emanating from stone. Barely audible screams of pain and madness filled his mind. Keir couldn't help himself, his grin grew larger.

“Keir, what is that stone?” Von asked.

“A pleasant little keepsake, to remember my eldest daughter.”

“Is that the stone that holds the soul of Prince Acastus?”

Long practice kept his expression steady. “Where did you hear a story like that?”

“After the war everyone close to you was intensely questioned. Several of them spoke of how you ripped the Prince Acastus soul from his body and put it in a white stone ball. Has he really been trapped there for three centuries?”

“He killed my daughter!” Keir snarled. “He brought the hard fought peace I'd taken a decade to win to an end, causing the death of hundreds of thousands. All because he was a spoiled, arrogant prince who thought he deserved my daughter. This is the least that he deserves.”

He watched the mage closely. This was the second time Von had seen him truly angry. The wound his daughters death had created was still there, and it was even more raw since learning of the deaths of all his children and wives. He knew what the mage was going to command, and it would shatter the little bit of goodwill he felt for the man.

Von looked him in the eye, silently thinking. Keir refused to look away, he wanted the man to see the hatred and fury that roiled in his soul. He was a chained dog for now, but he would slip free one day soon.

“I think three hundred years of pain and torture is long enough for anyone to suffer. But I'm not going to command you to do anything,” the mage finally said. “Simply consider about what people will think if they learn you have someones tortured soul in your pocket, so you can gloat over it. Is that what you want your allies to think about when they deal with you?”

Placing the ball in his pouch, Keir got his emotions under control. “I'll think about it,” he said.

Jaris opened the cabinet with a loud creak. “If you are both done, you can get the notes now, sir.”

“Thank you, Jaris.” Keir said, going over to the treasure trove of necromantic knowledge. Running his hand over the metal box at the bottom of the cabinet, he channelled his magic into it, causing it to open. Inside were the notes that he didn't want anyone to see. Vampires, his resurrection, the massive and virtually unkillable skeleton called the gashadokuro by one of his long dead assistants, and more. If his enemies and more than a few of his allies had seen these papers three hundred years ago, they would have proclaimed him a monster and demanded his death.

Now their descendants were going to declare him a hero.

They all went into separate pouches, which were handed out to the soldiers. He went around his workroom twice, making sure he had everything of importance. When he was sure of it, he took a knife, pierced his thumb and drew a rune on the wall beside the door, pushing his magic into it.

“Let's go, there's nothing else we need here,” he said.

Stepping out, he looked back one last time. Everything was breaking down. The stone walls were chipping and cracking, the wooden furniture rotted away in seconds, the papers turned to dust, soon there would be nothing left but powder. Closing the door, Keir felt one more tie to his old life snap.

“What now?” Von asked.

“We head back to the camp. I have some work to do, and tomorrow we will start a ritual that they'll feel across the entire continent.”

The mage raised his eyebrow in question.

For the third time in an hour, Keir grinned. “It will take a few days to complete, but we're going to turn this dead city into a monster that will make the demons cry in terror. I'll explain the details on the way back.”