The sun hung low over a quiet garden, its golden light spilling across dew-dappled grass and blooming wildflowers. Despite the beauty of the scene, there was an unnatural stillness in the air as if the world itself were holding its breath. Beneath a blooming elder tree stood two figures.
One was a woman, strong-willed. Her chestnut brown hair was tied into a loose braid that fell over her shoulder, and her freckled skin glowed faintly in the dying sunlight. The other figure looked almost human but not quite. The King of Light stood tall and lean, with skin the color of marble kissed by sunlight. His long hair shimmered like strands of spun gold, cascading over his shoulders. Though dimmed in the human realm, the divine light in his eyes still flickered like twin suns behind clouds. He wore a cloak of pale ivory, embroidered with sigils. His presence made the air hum like the calm before a lightning strike.
"I can feel it," he said softly, his voice calm but edged with certainty. "Darkness moves. Not yet fully here… but close. The Darkness King might be back."
She looked at him, her voice tinged with hesitation.
"Then why do you stay? Why not return to your realm? Destroy the shadows again before they reform?"
"I cannot," he replied. "Late this time. The darkness has bled into the mortal world and left my realm. It is clever, it knows how to hide. And I… I am powerless when I am in this realm. I cannot stop it."
"Then what do we do?"
He turned his gaze toward the house nearby, a modest cottage nestled at the edge of the woods. Inside, the soft flicker of a lantern danced behind the window.
"I have made my choice," he said. "It must be him. It must be Albus."
Her eyes widened. "But… he has not fully developed his powers yet."
"It is not about power," the king said firmly. "It never has been. It is about who he is. The blood of both worlds runs through him. Light, and humanity. That balance… that heart… it is what the world needs… plus, his powers are already more than enough."
The woman stepped closer, pain flickering behind her gray eyes.
"You are asking him to carry the weight of realms. What if it breaks him?"
He reached for her hand.
"He will not be alone," he promised. "But he must be the one to begin the path."
He released her hand gently, turned, and walked toward the house.
Inside, Albus sat near the hearth, drawing absentmindedly into the dusty surface of the table with his fingertip. His hair was white-blond, soft and unkempt, falling just above his eyes. His skin was pale gold, a natural sunlit glow passed down from his father, and his eyes shimmered like melted silver, deep, thoughtful, and strangely luminous. He wore a sleeveless brown tunic over a linen shirt and pants tucked into worn leather boots. His gaze drifted to the window as the door creaked open behind him.
The King of Light entered slowly, the golden dusk framing him like a fading halo. He studied his son for a long moment in silence as if memorizing the man's every feature.
"There is something I need to tell you," he said at last.
Albus turned in his chair, alert. "What is it?"
"A shadow is coming," the king said. "Something dark. It moves unseen… but it is real. And when it arrives, the mortal world will need protectors."
He stepped closer and knelt before Albus, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I want you to find them, the ones like you. Different. Gifted. Heroic. I want you to gather them… and lead them."
Albus blinked, his voice quiet but sure.
"Why me?"
His father smiled gently, proudly.
"Because you were born of light and love. You are the bridge between two worlds. And sometimes… that is stronger than the power of any of my henchmen."
- -
Elsewhere, Adolfo stirred, his head heavy, vision blurred. The cold iron bars surrounding him came into focus. He was in a cabin, locked inside a cage. A voice cut through the stillness.
"Finally… you are awake," said the young woman he met last night, standing just outside the bars, arms crossed, eyes fierce with barely restrained emotion.
Adolfo sat up slowly, wincing. He took a deep breath before speaking.
"Look… I never meant for any of this to happen. I am… I am so sorry about your grandmother."
Blanchette's expression hardened, tears welling up despite her anger.
"She was all I had," she whispered, her voice cracking. "And you just… ate her."
Adolfo lowered his eyes, guilt etched deep into his face.
"I am cursed," he said quietly. "Every night, I turn into that thing, and all these horrible things I do are out of my control. I sometimes do not even remember what I do… not until it is too late."
Blanchette studied him in silence. Her grip on the taser at her belt loosened slightly. She looked into his eyes, searching for a lie… and saw only pain.
"Who cursed you?" she asked, her voice softer now.
"Her name is Callidora," Adolfo replied bitterly. "A vampire— powerful, cruel. She cursed me to suffer forever. To destroy everything I care about with my own hands."
A beat of silence passed between them. Then the woman stepped forward and unlocked the cage. The door creaked open.
"I still want revenge," she said flatly. "And I can't bring myself to kill someone who is part human… no matter how much I want to. So here is the deal: you are coming with me."
Adolfo blinked. "What?"
"We are going to find Callidora," she continued. "And we are going to end her."
He hesitated, glancing down at his hands. "I… I think it is safer if I stay locked up."
The woman gave a crooked smile and tapped her taser.
"Do not worry. If anything happens… I will electrocute you again."
Adolfo gave a dry, nervous chuckle. "Comforting."
"Name is Blanchette by the way," she said.
"I am Adolfo."
She turned away, grabbing her cloak.
"Get moving, wolf-boy. We have got a vampire to kill."
The sun was beginning to dip low as Adolfo and Blanchette walked through Wayland Woods. Twigs cracked beneath their boots, the cool air thick with the scent of moss and old pine. For a while, they walked in silence. Blanchette had kept a careful few feet between them, her taser still visible at her side, but her steps had grown less tense. She had also tied Adolfo's hands behind his back, but she had given him the dignity of not doing it too tightly. She was not sure if she should trust him. Eventually, she spoke.
"So… where exactly are we going?"
Adolfo did not look at her, eyes fixed ahead on the narrow trail.
"Blackhaven," he said. "It used to be a part of the Wild West before the vampires started coming out of hiding. That is where most of the vampire houses live, and it is where Callidora rules."
Blanchette raised an eyebrow. "Charming. Sounds like the kind of place you visit when you have a death wish."
"Yeah, well," Adolfo muttered, "lucky us."
They walked a few more steps in silence before Blanchette gave him a sideways glance.
"There is something that has been bothering me."
"Only one thing?"
She ignored the jab. "How is it that every time you turn into that… thing, and then change back, you look like you just stepped out of a laundry commercial? No torn clothes, no blood, not even a scratch."
Adolfo slowed for a moment, then sighed.
"The curse… it does not change my body. It pulls me out of this world for a moment. My body, my clothes, everything vanishes into that other shape. And when I come back… I look human again. Even if I am not. It is like we are two different beings… I get stuck in that creature's mind and see all that it does. I try to resist but.. does not work that well.."
She did not press, but her gaze lingered on him a bit longer, as if studying more than just his words.
After another stretch of quiet, she asked, "So… how do you kill a vampire?"
Adolfo gave a dry laugh, humorless, bitter.
"I would not know," he said. "Never fought one."
Blanchette looked at him in surprise. "You have never—?"
"No." He kicked a loose stone on the path. "Callidora cursed me before I ever had the chance. She said it was because of what my father did."
"And what did he do?"
"He was a vampire hunter. A good one, I guess. He killed her brother. I do not even know his name." Adolfo's voice tightened. "Never met him. He left before I was born. I grew up with my mother… just the two of us."
A beat of silence followed.
"I used to think maybe he left to protect us from his job's danger," he added, more quietly. "Now I am not so sure."
Blanchette said nothing. She simply kept walking beside him, eyes forward. The forest seemed to hold its breath again, the path twisting ahead like a question waiting for its answer. The sun hung just past its peak, filtering soft golden light through the thick canopy of Wayland Woods.
"Freeze!" a voice suddenly. cracked like thunder through the stillness.
Both Adolfo and Blanchette stopped in their tracks, hands twitching instinctively toward weapons. From the shade ahead came a tan-coated mare, its rider's long coat swaying with purpose over a white long-sleeved shirt. And in her gloved hand, a polished six-shooter gleamed. She pulled back the reins and brought the horse to a stop, dust rising from its hooves. The mare snorted, restless beneath her.
It was Lillian, sharp-eyed and stone-faced, her stance wide and unshaking.
Her gaze locked on Adolfo. "I have been searching for you. Tell me Adolfo…are you or are you not a werewolf."
Adolfo raised his hands slowly, swallowing hard. "l am the werewolf."
Lillian's eyes narrowed.
"I have been the protector of Wayland Woods since I was nothing but a kid," she said. "Kept it safe from outlaws, beasts, and worse. And I ain't about to stop now. You may look, but by night you are a killer, and I do not let killers walk free."
She cocked the hammer of her revolver.
"I should put you down right now."
She tilted her head down, ready to fire. Adolfo did not move, but Blanchette stepped forward, drawing a slender sword from the sheath across her back.
"You will have to go through me first," she said coldly.
Lillian blinked. "Do you know what he did? Do you know what he is?"
"I do," Blanchette said. "I spared him. I could have ended him when I had the chance, but I did not. So no one else gets to make that call, not even the so-called protector of these woods."
A tense silence followed, then, without warning, Bang! Lillian fired a warning shot at the ground near Blanchette's feet. Blanchette did not flinch. Instead, she surged forward, her sword flashing toward Lillian's leg. The horse reared slightly, and Lillian leapt from the saddle, landing with grace and rolling into a wide stance. She fired again, narrowly missing Blanchette's shoulder. Blanchette struck with a horizontal slash, but Lillian spun out of range, holstering her revolver in a fluid motion.
"Stand down!" Lillian barked.
"I told you, he is mine to deal with! I want him alive," Blanchette shouted, eyes blazing.
Steel clashed against grit and gunfire as the two women danced. Blanchette jumped, twisting midair and striking downward, her sword carving a shallow line into the dirt as Lillian retreated. The fight was fast, tight, each woman reacting on instinct and fury. The fight was fast, furious, a brutal contrast of precision and passion. Adolfo stood frozen, eyes wide, torn between panic and awe. He did not know which of them terrified him more. Lillian fired again, a close-range shot, but Blanchette deflected it with the flat of her blade, the ricochet sparking against a nearby tree. She advanced with a feint, then drove Lillian back with a flurry of strikes. Lillian dodged, pivoted, and elbowed Blanchette in the ribs before aiming her revolver once more.
"Last chance, girl," she warned. "I do not want to kill you."
Blanchette raised her sword. "And I do not want to hurt the protector of these woods. But I need my revenge… and I am going to get it. You will not stop me."
Lillian lowered her revolver.
"Revenge from what exactly?"
Blanchette's grip on her sword loosened slightly, but she did not lower it.
"A vampire cursed him. She turned him into that thing because of what his father did, he was a vampire hunter. Killed her brother, apparently."
Lillian looked from Blanchette to Adolfo, then back again. Her revolver was still in hand, but her finger hovered near the trigger rather than resting on it.
"He is not a monster by choice. He suffers every time it happens," Blanchette continued.
Adolfo did not speak. He simply met Lillian's eyes, something raw and haunted flickering in his expression.
"I fought a vampire once," Lillian said, gaze turning distant. "Years ago. Nasty bastard ambushed a wagon."
Blanchette lowered her sword fully now, listening intently.
"You shoot one in the chest, it gets back up. You stab one, it heals. Silver slows 'em down if you are lucky. But if you want 'em dead…" Lillian tapped the handle of her revolver. "You need garlic. Weapons soaked in the stuff, bullets filled with it. Only thing that kills what they are…Anyways, he is still dangerous."
"He will not be a problem," Blanchette said. "Not as long as I have got this." She pulled out her taser, the metal prongs glinting in the dying sunlight. "A couple jolts of this thing brought him down last time. If he turns again… I will bring him down."
Lillian gave her a long, unreadable look.
"And if you can't?"
Blanchette stepped closer to Adolfo, her voice firm. "There is nothing I cannot do."
The cowgirl studied her for a beat longer. Then she gave a slow nod, the brim of her hat dipping slightly.
"Wouldn't it be easier if you just kill me?" Adolfo asks.
Blanchette turned slowly, her brows knitting.
"What?"
He looked up at her, eyes hollow. "I mean it. I am cursed. I am dangerous. People die because of me. Your grandmother died because of me. You would not even have to feel guilty. I deserve it."
She stared at him, hard and quiet for a long moment. Then she walked over and, without a word, crouched down in front of him.
"Absolutely not," she said firmly. "Don't you dare ask me that again."
Adolfo blinked. Blanchette's tone softened, but the fire in her eyes stayed lit.
"You think hating yourself is the end?"
She stood and crossed her arms.
"People carry pain, Adolfo. We all do, but pain passes. Something in your life will make up for it eventually… At least that is what my grandmother told me once."
He looked away, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I do not even know who I am anymore."
"You are the man who will help me kill Callidora," she said. "That is a start."
The woods were still again. The sun had nearly dipped behind the trees now, casting long shadows across the trail ahead. Blanchette reached behind him and loosened the rope binding his wrists, not freeing him, just easing the tension.
"Come on, wolf-boy," she said, starting to walk again. "Blackhaven is waiting."
Adolfo followed, silently but not as heavy-footed as before.
"You coming, cowgirl?" Blanchette asks.
"I certainly am. I need to keep an eye on him," Lillian answers as she rode her horse again.