Blood painted the walls. Rubble shook with every step.
Thierry wiped blood from his mouth and adjusted his stance.
"You're fast…" the vampire lord said with a lopsided grin, "…but not fast enough."
Thierry's eyes narrowed. His muscles tensed. Then—
Vwoom.
He vanished in a blink.
Reappeared behind the vampire lord and slashed. The vampire barely blocked, stumbling backward from the shock.
Teleportation magic.
Dangerous. Costly. And now Thierry was pushing it far past safe limits.
He reappeared again. Then again. Each time, a blur of blades and footwork. Every strike precise. Every jump sharp like lightning splitting the air.
But inside, his body was screaming. His skin started to burn from the inside out. Molecules fraying. Blood dripping from his ears. Still, he pushed harder.
"You're killing yourself," the vampire lord laughed, slapping aside another blade. "How poetic."
"I don't need to live long," Thierry snarled, "just long enough to kill you."
The vampire growled and countered with a claw swipe, but Thierry blinked behind him—again. The two of them blurred across the top floor, a violent chess game of teleportation, claws, swords, and blood.
Basement.
Elise stood among broken chains and busted doors. The last vampire crumpled to the floor, a clean cut across its neck. The rescued humans huddled behind the squad, dazed and terrified.
"We're clear," one of her men said.
Elise nodded. "Good. Get them out. Take them to the rendezvous."
They were about to move when a massive shockwave shook the building. Dust rained from above. The ceiling groaned.
Another vibration—this one like a thunderclap, followed by the distant sound of steel clashing with fury.
Elise turned toward the stairway, eyes narrowing. "I'm going up. Assist the civilians and keep the first floor secure."
"Wait—Captain Thierry said—"
"If he's still alive, he's fighting that monster alone," she said. "If he's not—then we're all already dead."
She sprinted up the stairs.
Top Floor.
Thierry's breathing was ragged now. His body smoked, flickering faintly from overuse of teleportation. Across from him, the vampire lord had several cuts across his chest and arms. Both were bloodied. Both were grinning.
"You're still standing. Impressive," the vampire lord rasped.
Thierry planted one blade in the ground, catching his breath. "What's wrong? Tired already?"
The vampire lord chuckled. "Tired? No. Just… excited. I haven't had a fight like this in centuries."
At that moment, Elise entered the chamber from the stairs behind Thierry.
Her eyes widened at the destruction—the half-collapsed walls, the melted blood-stained floor, and the bodies of the fallen. Then she saw Thierry—barely standing.
And then—
The vampire lord's eyes flicked to her.
He smiled wide. "Oh… fresh blood."
He charged.
Elise's eyes went wide—too fast.
She raised her arms, but the attack was already there. A blur of death—
Until Thierry appeared between them in a final teleportation flash, shoving her away and taking the full force of the punch to his side.
CRACK.
The sound echoed like thunder. Thierry's body flew like a missile, slamming through the wall with Elise in his arms.
They burst into open air and plummeted.
Below them—the raging courtyard.
"Hang on!" Elise shouted, her hands moving quickly. A massive burst of water magic surged up and swirled beneath them, creating a crashing wave to break their fall.
They hit the ground, rolling hard but alive.
Thierry groaned, clutching his side. "Damn… feels like I got hit by a freight train."
"You did," Elise said breathlessly, helping him sit up. "Don't move. You're—"
"Don't tell me what to do. I'm still your captain."
Above them, high in the broken wall of the vampire manor's top floor—
A silhouette stood.
The vampire lord, blood trickling down his chin, leaned against the broken stone arch.
His grin stretched ear to ear, eyes wide and shining with madness.
"You can run," he whispered, loud enough for all to hear, "but there's no escaping fate."
He stepped into the moonlight, framed by fire and death.
End of Chapter 6.