5:00 PM – Violet's Cabin
"Now go stand by the Mortal Realm door, dear."
Violet released Gwen, pointing toward the curtain of red light shimmering faintly across the frame.
"Okay…" Gwen's voice was soft, dreamy — the trance still holding her in its velvet grip.
Jacob stalked the invisible barrier like a starving predator, eyes burning a feverish crimson. He paced the threshold, his movements jagged and inhuman, sizing up his prey — Hildwulf, William, Violet, and Gwen. Every breath from him was a hiss between teeth too sharp for a man. All three warriors in the room knew it: fighting a Vampyre was never predictable. Strength, speed, regeneration — every encounter was a gamble, and one wrong step meant death.
Then — BANG. BANG. BANG.
The entire cottage convulsed. Charms shattered and fell in showers of glassy fragments; shelves toppled, candles burst, runes sputtered out one by one. William barely caught himself on the half-wall by the door. Jacob froze mid-snarl, eyes flicking toward the far wall as it began to crack, splinter, then explode outward in a thunderous roar of breaking timber.
Through the chaos lumbered something colossal — part bear, part machine, and unmistakably wrong.
A Monster. Flesh and steel grafted together by forbidden magic.
It stood three heads taller than any man, fur matted with oil and blood. One arm was plated entirely in knight's armor, forged into a mechanical limb tipped with crescent blades; the other was a monstrous bear's paw, silvered claws glinting in the flickering candlelight. Half its face was human — the rest a metal skull glowing with green fire where the eye should be. Spikes jutted from its armored legs, each step shaking the floorboards.
Monsters like this weren't soldiers — they were siege engines. Wards meant nothing to them. Magic only slowed them down.
"Hildwulf!" William shouted — too late.
The creature seized Hildwulf by his long white hair and hurled him into the wall like a rag doll. The dwarf hit hard, coughing as he slumped to the ground.
Violet reacted first — quick as breath. From her pocket she drew a small oyster shell etched with faint runes. She skipped it across the floor like a stone; it shattered beneath the monster's foot, releasing a burst of blue mist that swallowed him whole. The creature bellowed in confusion as translucent ripples caged it.
"A water shield," William breathed, helping Hildwulf to his feet. "Smart, V."
The shell's protection wouldn't last long — just long enough to run.
Jacob vanished from the front door and reappeared at the hole in the wall, testing the barrier. Red fire flared, sealing him out again. He hissed, pacing like a caged wolf.
"Everyone — the Mortal Realm door!" Violet cried, yanking open the floorboards and pulling out a small brown leather bag.
"No running, brother," Hildwulf growled, striking his axe's handle to the ground. Golden light rippled around him, forming a spectral armor.
William glanced at him grimly. "We don't run — but we fight where we can win."
The Monster pounded at its watery prison, each hit shaking the cottage more violently. Violet knelt by the cloth door and peeled back the curtain — the glowing passage to the mortal world pulsed behind it.
Then the air changed.
William's eyes widened. "V, watch out!"
On the other side of the portal — a Shadow Demon waited. Its arm speared through the opening before the wards could react, piercing Violet clean through the stomach. She gasped, blood splattering across Gwen's dress.
That single shock snapped Gwen out of the trance.
"VIOLET!" she screamed.
William and Hildwulf blinked across the room in twin flashes of light. Hildwulf caught Gwen, dragging her back. William pulled Violet free of the Demon's arm, pressing his hands to her wound. The portal flared as the Demon forced its body through, layer by layer.
"Burrow," William said through gritted teeth. "We'll regroup there!"
But the cottage ceiling groaned — then split open.
A Banshee drifted in, pale and ghastly, white hair writhing in the air like smoke. Her hollow eyes fixed on the brothers — and she screamed.
The sound was agony incarnate. Blood ran from Hildwulf's nose. William dropped to one knee, still cradling Violet.
The Shadow Demon finished its passage, tentacles writhing. It seized Violet again — this time by the jaw — and before William could blink, its tendrils slid into her mouth. She convulsed violently. Then, with a grotesque tearing sound, the Demon ripped her in half.
"NOOO!" William's roar shook the cottage.
He blinked — and in the next instant, he was behind the Demon. His daggers flashed, slashing through shadowed flesh. He struck again and again, vanishing and reappearing — every cut a blur of light and fury. Black ichor spattered the floor as the Demon staggered.
The Monster broke free of the water shield, catching William mid-blink. Its blade-arm came down — CLANG! — the weapon bounced harmlessly off William's enchanted clothes. Even in death, Violet's craft protected him.
Across the room, Hildwulf struggled under the Banshee's scream. Jacob, freed now that the roof had collapsed and the wards failed, blurred forward with inhuman speed. In an instant, he was on Gwen, pinning her. Hildwulf tore him away, ramming the haft of his axe into Jacob's mouth before the fledgling vampyre could bite.
William blinked again — reappearing atop the Banshee's back. He jammed a golden coin between his palms, forcing it down her throat. The creature gagged, clutching her neck as the magic took hold. Liquid gold poured from her mouth, hardening into a prison shell. She would now suffer a fate worse than death — eternal suffocation and revival, over and over until the end of time.
William blinked back to the Shadow Demon, his blade scrapping it's side, he twisted his magical blades to ensure they collected a bit of the Demon's oily skin.
The bear monster roared. That was William's cue, he reappeared just above the Monster's mouth, pouring the black goo down it's throat.
The Monster suddenly spasmed, black ooze bubbling from its mouth. The Shadow Demon shrieked — William's gamble had worked. The Shadow Demon will always reclaim its tainted matter, even if that means consuming another member of its own party.
"Come on, brother," William shouted. "Finish him and—"
But fire erupted between them — Night Fire.
The Shadow Demon's final retaliation. Flames of pure darkness roared through the cottage, devouring everything.
"Hildwulf!"
Separated by the inferno, Hildwulf knew he couldn't reach William in time. He blinked, dragging Jacob with him — both vanishing from the inferno of Night Fire.
They reappeared deep in the woods. Jacob snarled, feral and mindless, lunging again. Single minded in his fixation. Hildwulf caught his breath quickly, then blinked a second time — and now Hildwulf stood at the edge of a cliff. The Vampyre still so focused on getting to Hildwulf, he failed to notice his feet weren't on the ground.
"You're still too young, pup," Hildwulf muttered, gripping his axe.
"Restore."
The weapon shrank back to its small carved form. Jacob's jaws lost their grip, and he plunged into the fog below.
He wouldn't die — but it bought time.
Hildwulf looked back toward the distant smoke rising over the trees.
"Hold fast, brother," he whispered. "I'm coming."
End Chapter 22