Grian walked up the steps to the second level of the cabin, a short hallway with a couple doors on either side. He noticed a figure sitting outside of one of the doors, back against the wall as the man stared down at the many bite marks along his arms. The architect felt his heart sink, horror filling the pit of his stomach as his feet suddenly moved on their own.

"Oh, hel-"

He grabbed Wels by the arm, pulling the knight to his feet. "Wels?!" Grian's eyes widened as he stared down at the many vampire marks along his pale skin. "What are you doing here!? Y-you were back at the castle before, how did you—? W-why—?"

Wels pulled his arm away, his gaze turning frightened as he backed away from Grian. His red eyes were unnatural and glassy. "I-I don't know who you are." The knight shook his head, "What are you on about?"

"It's me, Grian!" He tried to help the hypnotized man remember. "You and I went to hunt vampires together! You were my guard!"

"Hunt vampires?" The knight's eyes went a little wide, "Oh nonono, I protect vampires. Ex saved me. I'm indebted to him, sworn to protect and serve him."

"Wels, he must have done something to your head. Vampires can hypnotize people! Your eyes—, they're red! You're under his control!" Grian tried to shout, grabbing his friend by the wrist, his eyes desperately pleading.

"I need you to remember. That vampire in there, he's dangerous. He's the reason Mumbo is a vampire! Come on, we need to leave!"

Grian tried to pull Wels downstairs, though the guard tugged his wrist away, as he was much stronger than the architect. "I'm not leaving his side." He said, posture straightening as he spoke. "Ex needs me."

"Please—" Grian began to plead, though the door to the bedroom that Wels had been guarding suddenly opened.

Out walked that beast, the creeper, if Grian remembered correctly. He was tall and intimidating, smoke coming out of the corners of his mouth. His head turned, his one eye staring down at the human. "Hmph," Doc huffed. "You must be the 'help' TFC mentioned."

"I—"

Doc grabbed his wrist, shutting the human up rather quickly. His piercing yellow eyes were filled with a hatred that was unexplainable, like a gaze that could kill. "You don't get to speak." The creeper said as he snatched Grian's wrist, pulling him inside the bedroom.

"Hey, be a bit nicer." A zombie lady with fiery orange hair spoke up, "He's clearly confused. Ex told me that human slaves don't tend to stray far from their masters. He probably doesn't understand what's going on."

"Humans are humans, Cleo." Doc growled as he tossed Grian forward, causing him to stumble as he fell to the wooden flooring. "Even hypnotized, they're evil beasts."

"Hey, I was a human once too!" The girl snapped, seated upon a small couch that was worn and dirty.

"Come on, dudes." A new, calmer voice spoke up. Grian looked over to him, a seemingly normal man. He was wrapping bandages on Ex, acting like a sort of medic. "Shouting is only gonna scare the fella even more."

"You don't get it, Ren." Doc huffed, pacing with his hooves clopping against the floorboards. "You were just cursed. You weren't born this way."

The man frowned, his brows furrowing as he stared at the creeper. "Yeah. Cursed to be a werewolf. Pretty much the worst curse anyone could ever have, thank you."

'Is that the same werewolf that attacked Mumbo and I?' Grian thought back, staring at the man as he continued to bandage the vampire's wounds.

"Come on, let's just get this over with." Doc said, lifting Grian off the ground by the collar of his shirt. He sat the human down on the edge of the bed, close to the vampire's reach.

Ren helped Ex sit up, the vampire struggling to do so with his many injuries. "Ugh," The monster groaned. "Stupid silver knife. If it wasn't for that, I would have already recovered by now.."

"You need a lot of blood to heal from these wounds. Even your human servant can't give you enough. I would give you some of my own, but—"

"Yuck." Ex stuck out his pointed tongue, "Cursed blood is the worst. Tastes sour."

"Yeah. That." Ren rolled his eyes. "Come on, just eat up."

Grian flinched as the vampire's cold hand weakly grasped at his wrist, pulling him close. The human shut his eyes, already flinching as he felt his hand be lifted to the mouth of the monster. His fangs extended, sharp, and ready to tear into his flesh.

The door suddenly flew open, just seconds before Ex was ready to feast. Impulse was carrying Zedaph in his arms, the two with wide eyes and smiles across their faces. "I'm trying to eat!" The vampire hissed at them.

"Boys, you can't just barge in here." Cleo stood up, ready to usher the two out of the room.

"No, wait!" Zedaph exclaimed. "She's here!"

Cleo stopped in place, her eyes widening a bit. "'She'? You mean—?"

Impulse nodded. "Yeah! She's finally back!"

Ren, Cleo, and Doc all shared a look with one another. "Maybe she'd be willing to donate." The werewolf suggested. "Vampires can be a bit territorial with their food. We don't want a fight to break out between them."

"You're probably right." The creeper grumbled, walking over to a window that was blocked by curtains. He moved them aside, spotting Mumbo pacing back and forth outside the cabin. "Plus, it looks like Mumbo is going to have a heart attack if we don't give his human back."

"Awe, come on!" Ex threw his hands up in the air to be dramatic, only to wince in pain as he did so.

"Oh, you stop it." The zombie rolled her eyes, "You'll get your food in a minute."

"Come on, human." Doc grabbed Grian by the wrist, the many monsters shuffling out of the bedroom to head out of the cabin. Grian and Wels shared an expression in passing, though he was pulled away by the creeper.

As they stepped outside, Mumbo looked up from his worried pacing, his expression lighting up. "Grian!" He said, rushing to wrap his arms around the human. He pulled the smaller man into a tight embrace, before pulling away with a worried expression.

"Did they hurt you? How much blood did they take? Are you tired? Do you need something to eat?"

Grian laughed a little, shaking his head. "I'm fine, I promise. They didn't take any blood."

"But, I thought—?"

"They said something like 'she is here', I think." The human shook his head, "They think whoever 'she' is, she'll donate her blood." He explained, in a slight whisper.

"She?" Mumbo raised an eyebrow, looking around as all the monsters and beasts began to rush towards the entrance of the village, anxious to meet whoever 'she' was.

"Should we go see?" Grian asked, taking the vampire by the hand as he looked up at him.

"I suppose." Mumbo nodded, "They all seem so excited. I wonder who she is."

The two walked towards the crowd, many of the villagers trying on new clothes or holding blankets or just enjoying food like bread and fruit. Still, the mysterious woman was surrounded by the monsters, swarming her to greet her like family.

Mumbo helped Grian push through the crowd, the two fighting their way to the source of the commotion. Her back was facing the two, as she was giving out a new sweater to Impulse. "Try not to burn this one, okay?" She said to the imp, who nodded gratefully.

"Thank you. I don't know what we would do without you!"

"Of course. Now, who's—" She turned around, only to stop in place as she and Grian met each other's gaze.

"Stress?" He muttered, almost at a loss for words. The basket the brunette held managed to slip from her grasp, tears welding up in her eyes as she rushed to wrap her arms around the man. He froze, almost like this couldn't be real.

"What..what are you doing here..?" Grian whispered quietly, practically shrinking underneath the gaze of all the monsters that watched him closely.

"I'll explain everything. Just.." Stress drifted off mid sentence, looking up at the vampire that stood next to Grian. "Is that you, Mumbo?"

He looked a bit ashamed, before nodding his head very slightly. "Y-yes."

Tears were now rolling down her face, her gentle hand pressing against his cold cheek. "We thought you were gone..." Her voice muttered quietly. "Iskall said that you were attacked by something in the forest. T-they lost their eye, they said you—"

Mumbo pulled away, his eyes filled with guilt. "I-I'll explain. But please, n-not here. I can take you to my house, we can talk there."

"I would like that." She said, turning back to the monsters and beasts that were watching her. "I just need some time to speak to these two. I promise I'll be back to finish handing out goodies soon."

Mumbo grabbed her and Grian by the wrist, trying to pull the two out of the crowd and away from the creatures that watched them. His house wasn't far, the vampire quickly ducking inside to avoid the other monsters from seeing them or hearing their conversation.

"I-I'm just, so confused!" Grian spoke as the door was shut behind them, running a hand through his hair as he paced back and forth. "First of all, you know about the monster village? Second of all, you two know each other?!"

"It's a long story." Stress let out a sigh, walking over to the table as she pulled out a chair to take a seat.

"It was late. I had gotten lost in the forest collecting firewood. The sun went down faster than I expected. I thought I would be lost all night but then..this man approached. He helped me find the way out. I thanked him and invited him for stew. He said he couldn't. I insisted. Each night the old man would come to my home. This was before I met Iskall, so it was rather nice to have company. As the sun would set, he would come out of the forest, and join me for dinner."

Mumbo and Grian shared a look, though they continued to listen to Stress. "Then one night, he didn't come. I went looking for him. He had triggered a hunter's trap, some kind of net woven with silver beads. I managed to get it off of him, but he was burning. He was a vampire. He didn't want me to know. He didn't want me to be afraid."

She rolled up her sleeve, revealing an old scar from a bite. "I wouldn't let him die." She said, her eyes serious.

"Vampire or not, he was a kind man. I wouldn't leave him there. That man was TinFoilChef. Because of the increase in hunters, we came up with a plan. We would make somewhere safe that was hidden from the rest of the world. He would gather the creatures, I would gather the supplies needed."

"So that's why you're here," Grian exclaimed. "A supply drop!"

"They've become a lot harder with Iskall around." She nodded, "Especially after their proposal. But I manage to slip away every now and again."

"But why help the monsters?" Mumbo asked, sitting across from her at the table.

"They are no monsters," Stress mentioned as she shook her head. "They are scared. Hurt. Alone. They are kind, but afraid."

"Okay, so that explains why you're here. But how do you and Mumbo know each other?" The human asked, pointing from Stress to the vampire with a confused look across his face.

"He and Iskall were like brothers, at one point." She spoke, while Mumbo shut his eyes and flinched as she began to explain. "Iskall and I were together, so they would stop by my bakery. I didn't know Mumbo very well, but he was always very kind." She smiled, though the vampire hid his face in his hands.

"They were very close. But one day, Mumbo disappeared. He was gone for days, until Iskall decided to go looking in the forest. That's when they came back, later that night. They were covered in scars and blood, and their eye—" Her hands grasped at the fabric of her clothes.

"Iskall said you were gone. Attacked by a beast. They said you had been killed, Mumbo." She said, her eyes watering. Stress wiped her tears on her sleeve as she sniffled, beginning to smile. "I'm just so happy you're okay."

"That's...that's not the full story.." The vampire shook his head, swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Mumbo?" Grian asked, placing his hand onto his thigh. "Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Stress." Mumbo said, his gaze on the floor. "I'm so, so very sorry."

"Mumbo, what on earth are you apologizing for?" She asked, tilting her head with a concerned frown.

He looked up from the ground, his eyes filled with tears that rolled down his pale cheeks. "I'm the reason Iskall lost their eye." Mumbo said. "I'm the beast that attacked Iskall."