Mumbo sat beside the sapphire river, his hand dipped in the running water. He stared at the rushing river, his reflection absent from the water. Already, the vampire missed Grian. He had barely been gone for a few hours, and yet Mumbo couldn't help but keep thinking of him.

The sun was up, meaning it was a rather dangerous time to be out, though Mumbo kept himself confined to the shadows of the overhanging trees. Most of the village was shrouded in darkness, so there wasn't much risk in walking around during daylight hours. Still, Mumbo had gotten used to his nocturnal schedule.

He glanced up from the river, noticing an odd commotion in the center of the village. The vampire perked up a bit, a bit of hope inside him that it was Grian coming back. Mumbo got to his feet, stepping away from the riverbank as he began to curiously approach the growing crowd of monsters.

"Gather everyone! We need to evacuate!" A voice called from the center of the crowd, "Techno, prepare the escape hatch and get everyone to meet on the west outskirts of the village."

A man dressed in dark armor pushed through the crowd, pulling along with him a familiar brunette girl with pink flowers in her hair. "Stress?" Mumbo raised his eyebrows, catching up with the two. "What on earth is going on? I thought you and Grian went back to the kingdom!"

"We did, but I was dragged back here!" She said, equally as confused as she was pulled by the wrist.

Hels practically broke down the door to TFC's cabin with a kick, startling the elder vampire. "What the—, Hels? I thought you were at the castle for intel?"

"I was," The shapeshifter nodded, a bit out of breath from the long journey back to the sanctuary. "But I needed to get back here as quickly as possible. The king is planning an all-out attack on our village. He plans to capture every monster he possibly can. On the way here there were dozens of guards swarming the forest, they're already prepping for the battle."

TFC rose from his chair, grabbing his cane and heading with a quick pace upstairs. "Come with me." He said to the three, wasting no time as he hurried up the steps. Mumbo and Hels started to follow, pulling Stress along, though she freed herself from the shapeshifter's grip and pulled away.

"Wait, why did you bring me here?"

"A hunter saw you and Grian leave the village, they were planning on capturing you. I volunteered to get you, but it won't be long before they realize we're already gone." Hels explained, the vampire's eyes going wide in shock and horror.

"What happened to Grian? Is he okay?" Mumbo asked in a panic, as the shapeshifter slowly shook his head.

"Grian was trying to talk to the king when I ran off. It would have been suspicious for me to take him along, I couldn't do anything."

Mumbo's heart sank. "I need to go find him!" The vampire said as he rushed towards the door, Hels grabbing his wrist before he could leave the cottage.

"No, it's too dangerous! They won't hurt Grian, they just think he's under some kind of mind control. What we need to do now is prepare for the battle, we can't have you running off and getting caught."

"But—"

"He's right, Mumbo." Stress put a hand on his shoulder, trying to help calm the vampire. "Scar and Grian are friends. He won't be hurt. But you might get killed, so for now, we need to come up with a plan."

"Come on, let's talk to TFC and see what he has in mind." Hels said, gesturing for Mumbo and Stress to follow him upstairs. The three headed to the second level, entering Ex's room, as the other monsters were already meeting there.

"We need to stand and fight!" Doc stopped his hoof against the ground, smoke puffing out of his mouth. "They will never stop hunting us! Let's stand our ground and fight back!"

"We're far outnumbered." Cleo said in response, shaking her head as she replied.

"She's right, we don't have the numbers to take down an army. Far too many people will be caught in the crossfire and lost." TFC agreed with the zombie, looking towards his fellow vampire. "Send Wels out there. Perhaps he can be a distraction, giving us a chance to use the tunnel system to escape."

"And if that doesn't work?" Ex raised an eyebrow with skepticism.

"I will handle it. All of you, get out and ready to evacuate. Human, you follow me." The vampire commanded, causing the other monsters to quickly rush out to find safety. Stress ran inside the room, helping Ex out of bed and onto his feet.

"I'm fine," he waved the girl away, groaning underneath his breath as he stood. "I'm going to help you hold them off."

"The king wants vampires," Hels spoke up, "If those hunters see you, you'll be their main target."

"Exactly." The vampire nodded, "I'll make sure they're too distracted with me, giving everyone else a chance to escape."

"But—" Stress tried to voice her concerns.

"We don't have time for arguments." TFC said, pushing the group out of the bedroom. "Let's discuss outside. Pearl should be doing reconnaissance to see how much time we have before the attack."

"You all are rather prepared for this—" Mumbo said in awe, following the others out of the cottage and into the street.

"We have meetings to prepare and teach us what to do in case of situations like this." Doc said to Mumbo as he stepped outside, followed by the rest of the group rushing out.

"Pearl!" The elder vampire yelled to the sky, a girl circling above the treetops. She swooped down, flapping her wings before landing before TFC. She didn't have arms, instead they were feathery wings, like she was some kind of harpy.

"We're already surrounded." Pearl informed the group, "And there are guards surrounding the exit to the tunnels. We don't have a place to run!"

"Someone must have sold us out!" Ren exclaimed, causing Cleo to gag a bit.

"Etho." She spat, her voice annoyed just at the mention of his name.

"Who?" Mumbo blinked, completely out of the loop.

"He's a sly kitsune who would sell other monsters out to save his own butt, I bet he told them where the exits to the tunnels lead." Doc grumbled, bits of flame managing to leave the corners of his mouth as he spoke.

"So what do we do?" Pearl asked the chief of the village, everyone looking to TFC for answers.

"Someone go and inform Techno to stop the evacuation process, it will only lead to capture. As for now, the only choice we have is to fight." He said, a stern look settling over his features.

Gem galloped over to the group, out of breath and panicking. "The trees!" She cried out, "They're starting to light the trees on fire!"

"How long do you think they can last for?" Doc asked the deer, who shook her head.

"I-I don't know, not long enough."

"Pearl, hurry to Techno and the others." TFC commanded the harpy, who nodded as she flew off to the outskirts of the village. "Gem, find Impulse. See if he can manipulate the flames and slow the burn of the trees. Mumbo, Ex, you two are with me."

"Wha—?" Mumbo fumbled the words, barely able to speak out of shock. The elder vampire looked towards the fledgling sternly.

"Vampires are one of the most powerful creatures in the world, and there are three of us. We should be able to take down an army, at least."

"But Ex is still healing, I still don't know how to use my powers, and you—" Mumbo stopped himself from saying anything else, biting his tongue.

"What, I'm old?" TFC gave a stern chuckle, though his face remained serious. "Right now we don't have a choice. As for the rest of you, gather with the others and try to hide, we don't have much—"

The ground shook, a blast going off that caused the large barrier of trees to shake. More blasts came after that, they were using explosives to break through. Not only that, the sounds were causing mass panic and terror through the village, causing monsters to scream and run like startled animals.

Blasts from the explosions were ear piercing, while the fire from the trees began to spread into the village. With another blast, suddenly one of the trees had a hole blown through its trunk, large enough for people to squeeze through. Then there was another, and yet another, as the explosives continued and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.

"Oh sh—" Another explosion cut TFC off, a deafening thud coming from the sound of one of the trees collapsing. Guards and hunters began to swarm into the village, carrying nets and swords as they rushed to attack. "Hurry, all of you, run!"

"Ah-Ah," Someone stepped through the flames that coursed through the village, lifting their crossbow and pointing it towards the monsters. Xisuma stared down the beasts, finger ready at any moment to pull the trigger. "You creatures aren't going anywhere.."

"Get out of here!" Ex snapped as he lunged, using his inhuman speed to move in front of the hunter and pounce. He was slower than normal, giving Xisuma the chance to pull the trigger. Out shot a net, silver beads woven between the knots.

Ex was knocked to the ground, wrapped in the heavy net that weighed him down. He hissed and growled at the burning in his skin, struggling to claw through the net. Xisuma laughed at the struggle, putting his foot on the creature's back.

"Do you like it, beast?" He asked tauntingly, "It's a net we designed to keep you monsters at bay. It's weighed down with silver, enough to make the strongest vampire a powerless prisoner.."

"Get off of me!" Ex snarled, trying to snap the mesh.

The hunter laughed, snapping his fingers together. "Load this one up in the special cart! Make sure he's nice and secure."

Some guards ran over, dragging away the net with Ex inside, who was snapping and growling like a dog. TFC stepped in front of Mumbo and the rest of the group, his eyes darkening with anger. "Release him at once, human." He said, slamming his cane against the cobblestone road.

"Apologies, but that won't be happening." Said a new voice, a figure stepping through the flames and smoke. The king smiled at the beasts, his eyes cold and icy as he studied the creatures.

"We don't want to harm anyone!" The elder vampire tried to reason, trying to take a step forward. The moment he did so, Xisuma shot him down with another net, woven with silver. It burned TFC's skin, causing him to cry out in pain as he fell to the ground.

"You beasts will be kept in cages, where you belong." The king spat, kicking TFC while he was writhing in pain.

Chaos was spreading around them, other monsters and creatures being shot at or captured by hunters. Mumbo, being the last line of vampire defense, was shaking in terror, with his arms spread to protect the other monsters behind him. "S-stay back, I-I'm warning you!"

Hels pushed past the vampire, his body morphing and changing as he shifted into a new form. He had changed into a large beast, a dragon, yet much smaller scale than most. He looked to be about double the size of a horse, which was nowhere near the size of an actual dragon.

The beast opened its mouth, blasting out fire at the king, who dodged the flames. "Fire at the beast!" Scar yelled, archers beginning to shoot silver-tipped arrows at the dragon. A couple managed to hit, causing the creature to rear up in agony as the arrow tore through its scales. But more and more arrows poured into the dragon, making it thrash about and roar loudly as it struggled to maintain its position.

"C-come on, we need to get out of here—" Mumbo tried to usher the group away from the fighting, though there were guards everywhere, too many for them all to escape without drawing unwanted attention. Another net shot at Mumbo, who was shoved out of the way by the creeper.

"Doc!" The vampire yelled, falling on his knees as he tried to pull the net off of him. Mumbo hissed as the silver in the net burned his palms, though he continued to tug and claw at the ropes.

"Hurry and go!"

"I-I don't—" Mumbo blubbered on the verge of tears, in a state of panic.

Another thud shook the village, as the dragon fell to the ground. It slowly shrunk down, a couple arrows working their way out of the shapeshifter's body as he reverted to his form as Wels. He looked to be unconscious, his chest slowly rising and falling as he lay in a puddle of his own blood.

Mumbo looked around, desperately trying to find an escape, while more and more monsters were being captured. His breathing became heavier, more frantic and panicked, as he desperately glanced around at the surrounding chaos.

He spotted someone just a bit further away, pointing a crossbow at him. Mumbo froze, his body jerking to a halt as he and Iskall locked eyes. Their gaze was cold and unforgiving, filled with rage. The vampire took a step back out of fear, only for Iskall to pull the trigger.

The net shot out at Mumbo, heavy enough to knock him off his feet. His head hit the road as he fell, making the world suddenly turn blurry upon impact. He could hear screaming and running before the world around him went black.