The wind howled quietly outside as Elias, Helen, and Seraphina crouched inside a small, dusty store tucked between two closed market stalls. It was late. The streets outside were dark, empty, and tense with silence. Shadows danced as the moonlight poured through cracks in the wooden walls. Inside the store, old baskets, torn fabric, and sacks of rice lay piled in corners.
They were hiding, breath held tight, waiting for the sound of boots outside to fade.
Helen's eyes slowly drifted upward, to the slanted wooden roof above. A small hole was carved out at the top corner. Through it, the pale light of the full moon shone, casting a silver beam across her face.
"What are you staring at?" Elias asked, keeping his voice low.
Helen smiled softly, her voice calm. "It's the full moon. It's beautiful."
Elias turned his eyes upward, but the moment he saw the moon, his heart dropped.
The full moon...
The image of the dead priestess flashed in his mind. Her last words echoed like thunder: "On the next full moon, you shall die, a hand shall rip your chest!"
He turned away from the light, clenching his jaw, trying to shake off the fear.
Helen's smile faded. She could feel it…she could hear it. A rare ability, even for her. She had accidentally caught one of Elias's thoughts.
"Did she really say that?" she asked gently, her eyes locked on him.
Elias blinked. He understood immediately. She was asking about the priestess's curse.
"I don't believe it," he replied quickly, shaking his head. But his voice was too sharp, too defensive.
Helen frowned. "You should've told me, Elias. You can't play with those kinds of words. They're powerful. Curses like that cling to your fate. Once we go back, I'll perform a cleansing. I'll redo the curse to neutralize it."
Seraphina sat quietly beside them, watching. She didn't understand what they were talking about. Curse? What curse? She thought, her eyes darting between the two of them. How do they know each other so well? It was like she had stumbled into a private conversation.
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through the room.
All three turned toward the front door.
Another bang.
Elias moved quickly, pointing toward the back exit.
"Helen, take the princess and get out. Now. I'll handle this."
Helen hesitated. "Please be safe," she said. Seraphina gave him a worried glance before Helen took her hand, and they rushed out through the back.
The door at the front burst open with a deafening crack.
A pale beam of moonlight lit up the broken doorway.
A figure stepped in.
Elias's breath caught in his throat.
Minister Frederick.
But something was wrong.
He was not human anymore.
His body was hunched, his eyes glowing bright red. Long, animal-like fangs jutted from his mouth, and sharp claws had taken the place of his fingers. His face was twisted with hunger. A low growl rumbled from his throat.
Elias gripped his sword.
A vampire? They only exist in tales... he thought.
But this was real.
In a flash, Frederick was in front of him. Too fast.
With monstrous strength, he drove his hand straight into Elias's chest.
Pain.
Elias gasped.
And then, with a gruesome sound, Frederick yanked out Elias's heart, dropping it on the floor.
For a moment, time stopped.
Elias's eyes widened, his legs weakened, and he as he wanted to collapse.
Frederick held him laughing. Then, hungrily, he bit his neck.
But almost instantly, he choked.
He stumbled backward, clutching his neck. He groaned in pain, dropping him onto the floor.
"What... what is this?!" he gasped. Smoke rose from his mouth. His throat burned.
He looked down at Elias's body. "He's not... human. I caught the wrong prey tonight."
Panicking, Frederick bolted out of the store, disappearing into the night.
Elias lay on the floor. His chest…empty just moments ago…began to pulse faintly.
Then, his heart regenerated. It was as if something drew it back inside his chest.
The wound closed slowly.
And he breathed.
His eyes opened.
But they glowed faintly purple.
He sat up slowly, confused. His body trembled as power surged through him. He looked at his hand, the blood still wet.
He was alive.
And something inside him had awakened.
Far away, high in the cold mountains, an ancient mansion stood carved into the stone. Its windows glowed faintly. Inside, Minister Cedric, the king's former advisor, the current minister of land affairs and Frederick's powerful in-law, was sipping warm tea when Frederick burst in, coughing and shaking.
"Help me! I drank the wrong blood!"
Cedric's calm face turned curious. "What do you mean?"
Frederick fell to his knees. "I tried to kill him, the one who killed Ken, but his blood... it poisoned me."
Cedric narrowed his eyes. "Poisoned you?"
He waved his hand. "Get him the antidote."
Two servants rushed over with a dark liquid in a silver bowl. Frederick drank it quickly.
Cedric waited.
"Better?"
Frederick nodded weakly.
"So," Cedric asked, folding his hands. "You said you saw the one who killed Ken trying to jump your wall?"
Frederick nodded.
"Did you see his face?"
"No," he said. "He was putting on a mask,but he should be dead."
Cedric raised a brow. "How sure are you?
"I ripped off his heart "
Frederick replied,
He turned to his men. "Go. Bring me the body."
Hours later, the search party returned…empty-handed.
"Neither the heart nor the body were there, sir."
Cedric rose from his seat slowly.
"Interesting. A man survives having his heart ripped out? And his blood poisons a vampire?"
Frederick nodded. "He isn't a vampire, though. His blood didn't taste like ours. It tasted like that of a dead human ."
Cedric's eyes gleamed. He grinned slowly.
"He's a body shifter."
Frederick's eyes widened. "A body shifter? But they're extinct."
"No... just hiding, I've waited a long time to meet one," Cedric whispered.
He looked out the window toward the dark horizon.
"Soon the Vampire King and his army will arrive. When they do, this kingdom will fall... and people like him will be hunted again."
The fire in the room crackled louder.
Frederick bowed his head. "What should we do now?"
Cedric smiled.
"We prepare. The prophecy is finally moving. And this... Assassin... he just made things much more interesting."