Blaise froze when they reached Iérti's settlement, horrified by the sight of Tavaly and his vampire allies feeding on the people. Ardai and Arison's eyes widened in shock, but they kept running. Krystyna halted near Blaise, gasping when she saw several people already lying dead, drained entirely.

"We gotta stop this," Krystyna murmured, hitching up her skirts as she proceeded to race forward, her long blonde hair lying out behind her.

Blaise hesitated, grimacing at the sight of violence. He was the most peaceful vampire in the land and he did not like any sort of violence. Even when needing to feed on a person, Blaise was very gentle and cautious to cause as much minimal pain as possible; he was the only vampire who apologized to those he fed on. As a result, his sense of control was much higher than most other vampires who gave in to their craving for blood.

Blaise was about to turn back and alert the others when he noticed a woman screaming for help as a vampire advanced on her. Blaise saw a flask of garlic oil and was over there in a flash, careful to keep his fingers from touching the oil. He uncorked it and flung it at the vampire, making him cry out in pain.

Blaise immediately grabbed the woman, taking her to a safe place several distances away. He set her down, saying in a soft soothing tone, "Don't worry, you're safe now." He went to help other humans, using similar methods to fight the vampires trying to feed on them.

Ardai and Arison were in full force, using every muscle and strength to fight Tavaly's vampires. Krystyna focused on getting the children to a safe place, urging people to take cover and arm themselves with garlic and blackthorn. Blaise kept throwing garlic oil, accidentally getting some on himself.

"Great, I just decommissioned myself," Blaise murmured as he doubled over in pain, laying helplessly on the ground.

A blanket threw itself at Blaise, wrapping him in a burrito. He felt arms lift him up and realized it was Iérti. He wrapped Blaise in a blanket to prevent the garlic oil from hurting him and was now carrying him to safety. He placed him amongst frightened humans huddled underneath a basement, pushing the tent covers to hide them from view.

"Stay here," Iérti ordered. He pushed a burlap sack full of peppermint leaves over to the people, saying, "Put these peppermint leaves all over you. They will help mask your scent so enemy vampires won't get to you. I'll come back to let you know when it is safe to come out. I am appalled this is happening."

"It's Tavaly, isn't it?" Blaise asked, wincing in pain.

tossed a small bundle of thick bandages at him. "These bandages should help remove the garlic oil from you." He turned to the people, who looked back at him in either caution, fear, or gratitude.

"I'll find the people responsible for this attack. I have no doubt it's Tavaly and the vampire traditionalists. Stay here until dawn. I'll be back as soon as possible." Iérti turned himself into bats, flying out of the tent covers and into the night sky.

Iérti's bats scoured the area for any sign of Tavaly. He grabbed wooden stakes and threw them at enemy vampires, killing them as they were feeding. Humans fell to the ground, pushing dead vampires away from them. Several of Iérti's vampire allies came over to help them, either pressing bandages to their wounds or taking them to a safe place.

A flock of crows and doves emerged from the forest, coming up to meet Iérti's bats. They swooped down and turned back into their true forms, Mallen and Írásom appearing face to face with Iérti. "Tavaly is nowhere to be seen," said Mallen, his hair tied back with a ribbon. "I searched everywhere."

"As did I," said Írásom, dressed in navy blue.

let out a heavy sigh. "He's gotta be here somewhere. We need to kill him if we're to end this."

Just then Arison came up to them, his face grim. "General, there's awful news. This isn't the only attack. All settlements have been attacked this very night."

Iérti's face turned white as he stood speechless. Mallen stepped back in horror. gasped at the news.

Mallen regained his senses and spoke, his military experience taking over as he began commanding firmly, "Send three of our allies to each settlement this very instant. There's only four hours left til dawn."

Mallen turned to Iérti, saying, "You will stay here. I will head to my own settlement. Írásom will go to the oceanside settlement of Fair Winds. The overlords will each go to their own settlement. I'll send this message right now."

Mallen closed his eyes, drawing on his vampiric powers to enter each of the vampire allies' minds and order them to head towards the settlements indicated, to help humans while fighting Tavaly's vampire allies.

Iérti and wasted no time, Iérti turning into bats and Írásom turning into doves to reach the settlement faster. Mallen felt each vampire's mental response, knowing they were headed to help all the attacked settlements. Satisfied, Mallen opened his eyes and turned into crows, flying out towards his own settlement of Castle View.

The gibbous moon and the charcoal greyish black night sky loomed ahead as war broke out in each of the settlements. Each vampire overlord and two allies seized weapons, using them against Tavaly and his vampire allies. Humans joined in, making up for what they lacked in comparison to vampire speed and strength by using garlic, wooden stakes, silver, and blackthorn to fight the vampires.

Mallen turned himself into vampire hedgehogs, their fangs biting at enemy vampires, though careful not to draw blood, and their sharp quills poking them, forcing vampires to let go of humans.

While vampire hedgehogs attacked on ground, Mallen simultaneously turned into vampire crows that pecked and dragged enemy vampires away. Once dragged away, Mallen turned into his true vampire form and staked them with wooden stakes, his eyes glaring red in anger, before turning back into vampire hedgehogs and vampire crows. He was the only vampire able to turn into both types of vampire creatures at the same time, something even Iérti and Írásom couldn't do, due to Mallen being the most powerful vampire of them all.

Írásom turned into deadly vampire unicorns that used their hooves to push and impale enemy vampires with their horns. She was even deadlier than Mallen in battle, attacking with vicious speed. She impaled nearly every enemy vampire in the settlement before turning back to her true vampire form, seizing a handful of wooden stakes as she traipsed around the settlement, checking to see if there were any remaining enemy vampires.

She heard a noise and looked in a tent to see an enemy vampire attempting to force himself on a human woman. Írásom was instantly hit afresh with horrible memories that still gripped her with pain and torment, memories she never wanted anyone else to ever experience.

Vowing to ensure the same never happened to another woman, Írásom rushed forward, eyes red with fury, glad she was no longer a scared, timid human and was now a vampire with powerful strength, able to kill such horrible people with cruel intentions.

The enemy vampire barely had time to glance back at his attacker before Írásom drove all ten stakes into his back, killing him instantly. She shoved his body to the side, away from the sobbing woman. The red eyes vanished when Írásom turned an empathic face to the woman, saying with promise, "It's alright. Nobody will hurt you now."

The woman kept crying, traumatized by what almost happened to her. Írásom came over and put an arm around her shoulder, holding her in a hug. She spoke to her in reassuring tones, waiting for her to calm down before taking her back to her family.

The woman's father gripped her tightly, as if afraid to let go. The woman's mother was crying with her daughter as they hugged each other. They looked at Írásom when the woman told them a vampire saved her. The woman's father heartfully thanked Írásom for saving his daughter. Írásom smiled and nodded, saying, "You're welcome."

Írásom went to check to make sure there were no other enemy vampires in her assigned settlement, realizing the enemy vampire she ten-staked was the last one. She was about to head home to Mallen's castle when she noticed a flash of orange robes in the faraway landscape.

Tavaly.

A new resolve shone in her eyes. It was her first time seeing him, but she knew it was Tavaly from the description of him always wearing orange robes. He was heading towards Blaise's settlement. Írásom took one last glance towards Mallen's castle before silently following Tavaly, intending to find out what he was up to.

________________

Blaise groaned as he used the bandages to wipe garlic oil off him. His eyes began to turn red, needing to feed in order to regain his lost strength. He heard Mallen's command in his mind, urging him to start heading to his own settlement with two allies named and Napierra.

I'm very much out of commission, Blaise thought in response. A weakened vampire is of little help unless they feed. And I don't want to feed on any of these people. Though Blaise was a vampire, he didn't like the very act of biting into someone's neck, preferring to drink from stores so he wouldn't have to harm anyone.

Even a gentle bite was still painful since vampire fangs were sharp. Biting the neck gave vampires control over their victims. Once the vampire maintained a grip, the pressure rendered a person temporarily helpless while the vampire fed. Vampire venom gave an endorphin-like effect to the person being bitten, making them less likely to struggle. Vampire blood was what enabled humans to turn into vampires; vampire venom was only released during feeding.

Blaise was jostled when humans around him reacted to the sudden sight of two vampires emerging into the tent, a man and a woman. They held up their arms in a peaceful gesture, the man saying, "We're Iérti's allies. Mallen just commanded us to go with Blaise to his settlement. Every settlement has been attacked. We're being separated so we can help the other settlements. Napierra and I are being sent to Blaise's settlement. Blaise, come with us."

"I'm out of commission," Blaise said. "I accidentally burned myself with garlic oil."

Napierra rolled her eyes and grabbed Blaise, forcing him to stand up. "You're a vampire; you'll heal in a few minutes. You can still fight even though you claim to be out of commission. Mallen commanded you to be in commission."

Blaise glanced at where the garlic oil had burned him. His skin was healing fast, though he still felt the burn. Vietzke came and picked him up, muttering something about Blaise unable to handle a little pain. Blaise resisted, but Vietzke had stronger arms and was taller and bigger in form, while Blaise was skinny and smaller in stature. Napierra followed them out, ensuring the humans to stay safe.

Ardai was glad Arison was assigned as one of the allies for his settlement. Mallen knew they had a close brotherly friendship, very much like Mallen and , and so he had the two work together with another ally named Imun.

Romena was one of the outlier vampires, neither enemy nor ally, though she leaned more towards the enemy side. She watched all the fighting from a distance, neither participating nor helping any side, just observing.

As soon as she sensed Mallen's mental voice reaching out to her and any available vampire, Romena ran as far as she could, not wanting to be within reach of Mallen's mental control. She kept running, vanishing towards the far stretches of the land where few vampires roamed.

was still compelled to stay at Blaise's castle. No longer dark and gothic, it looked vintage and sparkling. There were no longer any cobwebs, no dust, not even a speck of dirt, the castle completely restored to its full grandeur.

There were candles and lighting, part in that Mallen liked candles and wanted light even in dark places. Though Trésora loved total darkness, Mallen's mind compulsion had influenced her more than he intended, at least for the time being.

Trésora stood at one of the big windows inside the castle, wearing a Victorian-style cream white dress with pearl buttons on the sleeves as she stood looking out the window.

Her long red hair trailed to the floor, her bloodred eyes fixed on the faraway settlement. Mallen had forgotten all about Trésora, too occupied with matters of importance. He would soon remember her, especially after what was to transpire.

Metallic bronze-tinted footwear entered the castle, following by a soft swishing of fabric. Trésora turned to see Tavaly come into the room, his eyes glowing yellow. "Why haven't you reported anything to me?"

"I'm forced to stay in this castle until further notice," Trésora said coldly, turning back to the window.

Tavaly eyed her curiously, then realized the full implications of what she meant. "Mallen compelled you," Tavaly said simply, his eyes narrowing at Mallen's name.

said nothing in response.

Tavaly growled. "Nonetheless, I have a task for you."

"Bring me a human."

Tavaly detected parched thirst in Trésora's voice. He chuckled. "Not until after you do what I ask of you."

"First Mallen, now you. At least I can defy you; no one can defy Mallen," Trésora said bitterly.

Tavaly's eyes narrowed in displeasure. "He went from being the cruelest vampire in the land to becoming the most powerful vampire in the land. His ancient powers are coming back in full power more so than ever before. I'll send someone else to spy on him in hopes of learning everything we possibly can about him, since you're detained for the moment.

"I've been studying his successor; now it's time to learn further about his predecessor. Though it appears they share more of a brotherly bond than anything else. I have figured out a way we can possibly break Mallen, or at least get him to lose his precious humanity."

Tavaly glanced at Trésora. "It appears Blaise doesn't use his own castle. Since you're compelled to stay in this castle, I'm assigning you with the task of preparing this castle to use as a stronghold for total annihilation."

Trésora's eyes widened as she spun around in complete astonishment. "Annihilation?!"

"Yes, annihilation," Tavaly confirmed, turning so Trésora can see his slow wicked grin. "Since Mallen cares so much for humans, we'll annihilate half the human population and enslave the other half. The enslaved will serve us as a continual blood supply. Only those who follow me shall have the blood supply, thus starving out Mallen and his vampire allies. It would be much easier to kill them when they are weakened from thirst. Perhaps then they might start to see things our way."

Trésora was silent, processing what Tavaly just told her. Tavaly noticed her silence and tipped her chin up, about to say something, when Trésora moved from him and snarled, "Don't touch me!"

"You're not thinking of joining Mallen, are you?" Tavaly asked, suspicious of her reaction.

Revulsion appeared in Trésora's eyes, convincing Tavaly she had no allegiance with the vampire leader. "Never." Tavaly liked the bite in her tone, further cementing Trésora would never side with Mallen. He noticed she said nothing about his plan; he had rendered her speechless.

"I should think not," Tavaly said in response, his tone cool. He spoke without looking back, saying brusquely, "Further instructions will await you tomorrow night. Good night, Trésora."

His soft swishing robes showed him out the castle door, Trésora's red eyes staring back at Tavaly, waiting until the door shut before revealing her true emotions: fear and uncertainty. She quickly hid them, unsure if there were spies in the castle.

Trésora sighed, turning on her heel. Looks like I'm gonna starve another night, Trésora thought, bemoaning the fact Tavaly hadn't fulfilled her ask. She had already gone through all the stores in the castle and there were hardly any visitors to the castle; Tavaly had been the only one.

Putting aside the shock of hearing Tavaly's plans of annihilation, went back to the window, hoping for a much more favorable visitor.

________________

✨ Fun fact:
Hedgehogs actually do have fangs, but they're really small and not that visible.

✨ Another fun fact:
Unicorns are mentioned in the Bible nine times.

________________