Night had fully fallen over Blackhaven. Above, the sky was suffocated by sickly clouds, and the moon burned a pale white through their tattered edges. Mist rolled like waves through the hollowed ruins. The palace stood at the center ancient and whispering with silent dread. At the broken outer wall, just beyond a field of crooked stone statues and half-buried bones, the four figures stood still. Until Adolfo exhaled sharply and shifted. In seconds, the man was gone, replaced by the towering, snarling beast. The werewolf. Eight feet tall. Fur like night. Fangs gleaming. Rage in motion.
Without waiting, Adolfo let out a thunderous howl that split the fog and charged toward the entrance. Dozens of vampires hissed and shrieked, leaping to meet the threat. Adolfo met them head-on. The werewolf tore through the first two, ripping one clean in half with a swipe and hurling the other against a wall where it shattered like glass. The courtyard became chaos.
Behind him, Albus, Blanchette, and Lillian slipped inside the palace, their weapons drawn, breath tight, hearts beating like drums of war. Albus notched a garlic-tipped arrow to his sleek bow and released it with eerie calm, the shot sailing silently through the fog and striking a vampire in the heart. The creature burst into flames and fell, screaming.
"Left flank!" Albus called.
Blanchette sprinted that way, her garlic-forged sword gleaming in the moonlight. A vampire lunged from a ledge, she met it midair, slashing a perfect arc across its chest. The creature exploded into mist. Another followed, she ducked, rolled, came up slicing, gone. From above, two more descended, only for gunfire to echo sharply beneath the stars. Lillian stood firm, long coat flared, six-shooter in hand, smoke curling from the barrel. The bullets were not ordinary. They were soaked in crushed garlic oil and dusted with silver, they burned when they hit. She shot one vampire through the skull, and it burst into embers. She shot the second in the heart mid-leap. It let out a high-pitched wail before evaporating into ash.
More vampires poured from the walls, some in humanoid form, others shifting mid-movement into flapping, screeching bats before reforming mid-leap. One landed on Albus, claws out, but he activated a glyph-lined bracer on his arm, emitting a blinding burst of golden light that burned the vampire away.
Adolfo rampaged across the main square, now covered in blood and torn limbs, ripping a vampire's head off with his jaws before pouncing on a group of three. His claws moved like blades, raw, primal destruction. He howled again, his voice a storm of agony and fury, but his eyes, for a second, looked toward Blanchette. He remembered. Blanchette fought beside him, the two cutting down anything in their path. Her blade met the beasts he missed. They fought like a curse and its cure, side by side. The werewolf ignored Blanchette though and kept attacking the vampires.
"Behind!" Lillian shouted, a vampire had nearly landed on Albus, but she fired once, twice, the creature dropped midair and turned to smoke.
Albus released three arrows in quick succession, each one impaling a vampire along the outer ramparts. The way to the throne room ahead cleared for a moment, mist scattering, screams fading. Panting, soaked in sweat and blood and fog, Albus, Lillian and Blanchette were approaching it. Adolfo, still in werewolf form, growled low. He did not follow them but stayed and kept fighting vampires.
"He is still with us," Albus said, breathless.
"For now," Lillian added, eyeing the beast with caution.
Blanchette stepped forward, hand on her taser just in case, but did not raise it.
"Let him have this night. He will not attack us. We have Callidora to ourselves."
The massive doors to the throne room creaked open with a thunderous groan. Black stone walls stretched high above, torchlight flickering in sconces carved from bone. At the far end, seated atop a twisted throne of ivory and iron, lounged Callidora, regal, cruel, and completely still. Beside her stood a cyborg in a duster coat. His posture was stiff, his expression blank, his eyes glowing faint red. Cullen.
Albus stepped forward slowly, golden cloak brushing the dusty floor. "That is her"
Blanchette said nothing. Her gaze was locked on Callidora. The vampire queen smiled.
"Well," she said in a voice that curled like smoke. "You have made it far inside the palace. And with quite the… variety of guests."
Cullen stepped forward in eerie silence. He raised his revolver slowly, coldly. The metal in his arms hissed and clicked with pressure. He did not speak.
"This one is not fully turned," Albus said. "His skin is not purple."
He drew a shining staff and held it high. "No garlic on him. We can still save him. I know a way."
Callidora rose at that. "Oh, so noble. I do love a good tragedy."
And with that, Cullen opened fire. The room erupted into chaos. His shots were thundercracks, blazing and rapid, the rotating barrel spewing out precise, deadly fire. Lillian dove for cover, drawing her six-shooter and returning fire, her bullets narrowly missing as Cullen shifted with uncanny mechanical speed. Albus activated his bracer, summoning a radiant shield of light that deflected Cullen's bullets with sparks and light.
"Move wide!" Albus shouted. "Keep away from his aim!"
Callidora descended the stairs like a shadow given flesh, eyes glowing, claws curling with inhuman grace. Blanchette met her mid-step, slashing her sword with power and fury. However, her blade only met the hiss of air as Callidora vanished and reappeared at her side. Blanchette quickly turned to attack her again. Callidora moved like liquid shadow, dodging each blow with cruel elegance.
Lillian flanked to the right, sending non-garlic shots toward Cullen's joints, trying to damage the mechanical limbs. One shot hit, and Cullen staggered, but he spun and fired back, clipping her shoulder. Albus used the fact that Cullen was distracted on Lillian, and he attacked with his light shield powerfully. As Cullen fell to the ground, Albus tinkered with his bracer again, releasing glowing binds that wrapped around Cullen and froze him in place.
"Got him!" Albus panted.
Meanwhile, Blanchette was sweating as she was knocked back by a heavy strike from Callidora, who stood completely unharmed. Her claws gleamed. Her smile widened.
"You are passionate," Callidora cooed. "You will look lovely as a thrall."
Blanchette rose slowly, blood on her lip.
"I am not here to be lovely."
She charged again. Callidora parried her every move, fighting one-handed, mockingly calm. Callidora caught her blade with her bare claws, then twisted and threw her across the room like a doll. Lillian leapt in, firing midair. Callidora vanished, reappearing behind her with a whisper: "You are slow." Lillian spun and fired, missing by a breath.
Cullen, meanwhile, struggled in the binds. He tried pointing his revolver at Albus, but Albus stops him with his hand.
"Do not fight me. Fight her control over you," Albus said.
The cyborg twitched. Something behind the red gleam of his mechanical eye… struggle.
Blanchette limped to Lillian's side as they faced Callidora, who had not a single wound on her body.
"She is toying with us. We cannot touch her," Blanchette growled.
"Watch me," Lillian said, loading a garlic bullet.
Callidora reappeared atop her throne, arms wide.
"I am growing bored."
For the first time, Callidora stood still.
"Then die bored," Lillian whispered.
Bang! Lillian's shot hit dead center — a perfect chest shot.
"Nobody calls me slow," Lillian said, adjusting her hat and thinking that the fight was over.
The room held its breath. Callidora looked down at the hole in her dress. She smiled. But she did not die. She brushed ash from her shoulder with a delicate flick of her clawed fingers.
"That was cute," she said.
Lillian took a sharp breath, her gun lowering slightly. "That… that was garlic."
Callidora tilted her head, eyes glowing. "It was."
Blanchette gritted her teeth. "Then how?"
The vampire queen smirked.
"A gift. From a brilliant man of science. All it cost me was a mutt."
A beat of silence passed. Then she said it clearly, for all to hear: "I traded Cullen's dog to him. In exchange, he gave me something no vampire has ever had, immunity to garlic."
Cullen's mechanical limbs shuddered. Callidora stepped down from the cracked dais, her boots clicking softly across stone.
"Once I replicate this in others, once my new spawn are born immune to garlic… the age of hiding is over. Blackhaven will not be a hideout anymore. It will be the beginning."
She looked over the three of them.
"You will make fine specimens. One of you already is."
The red glow of Cullen's eye trembled.
"Daisy…" Cullen whispered.
Then he screamed. With a fury, Cullen roared, metal straining. His cyborg limbs sparked as he pulled the binds and flipped Albus over. Albus hit the floor hard, the binds disappearing.
"You sold her!" Cullen bellowed. "You sold Daisy!"
His revolver was in his hand again, his movements wild, driven not by precision but by grief. He fired a few shots in fury, and Callidora blurred through each of them, twisting, teleporting, sliding like a wraith. Then she vanished and reappeared directly behind Cullen. She touched his temple.
"Shh," she whispered. "Sit."
And Cullen screamed again, dropping to his knees as if his circuits were being torn apart from the inside. His claws dug into the floor as he fought it, but blood began to drip from his nose, his ears.
"She is inside his head!" Albus shouted, scrambling to his feet.
Callidora turned toward Lillian and Blanchette, still holding Cullen in her psychic grasp.
"I made him my toy," she said coldly. "He forgot that."
Then she stepped toward the two women, fangs bared, claws glinting. Blanchette roared and charged with her garlic-forged blade, swinging with speed and fury. Callidora dodged effortlessly, spinning behind her and landing a solid blow to her ribs that sent her crashing into a column. Lillian fired, each shot aimed with deadly accuracy, but Callidora swayed, vanished, reappeared, tauntingly close and yet always out of reach.
"You are brave," the queen said, slicing Lillian's coat with a claw. "I respect that. You will taste better."
Albus reached Cullen and tried to help him, whispering words of encouragement to break the mind grip, but the cyborg was writhing.
Blanchette rose again, bruised and coughing, and joined Lillian as they circled Callidora. Outnumbered or not, the queen smiled.
"You think this is a fight?" she purred. "This is an overture."
The throne room shook with the sound of claws against stone. A howl tore through the air, long, fierce, and primal. From the shattered entryway, a massive figure burst into view: Adolfo. Fur bristling like steel wires, fangs bared, and amber eyes burning with barely restrained fury. The werewolf landed with a snarl between Callidora and the others. Callidora's grin widened.
"I know this one," she said.
Adolfo growled, deep and guttural, and pounced, claws slashing. Callidora dodged the first strike but barely escaped the second, a sweeping claw that cracked the floor where she had just stood. Blanchette charged in beside him, sword arcing with vengeance. Lillian flanked to the left, her six-shooter barking with timed precision. And behind them, Albus activated his bracer and aimed light bursts at Callidora.
The four of them pressed in. Adolfo snapped at Callidora's side, her dress slashing open. Lillian's bullets forced her to stay mobile, dodging rather than controlling the fight. Blanchette struck a shallow cut across her thigh, but it healed instantly. Albus's light attacks, even though they did not hit her, pushed her out of her teleportation rhythm. She vanished once, twice but reappeared a heartbeat too slow, struck by Adolfo's claw across her back. She screamed, staggered, and retreated behind her throne.
"You think you are going to get your victory tonight?" she spat, eyes blazing. "No, you will not. This is not over. I will be seeing you again soon."
Breathing hard now, her perfect composure cracked, Callidora looked at each of them. Her eyes lingered on Cullen, still barely conscious.
"No matter how hard you fight," she said coldly, "darkness will always be one step ahead."
She distracted them by forcing Cullen to shoot towards them with her psychic grip on his mind. Then she raised her hand, muttered something in a forgotten tongue and turned into a bat, fleeing through the cracks of the throne room like shadow through light. Cullen stopped shooting, and silence fell. Only the sound of their breath, and Cullen's soft groans, filled the room. Lillian holstered her revolver with a grunt. Blanchette leaned on her sword, sweat trailing down her cheek. And Adolfo, chest heaving, beastly form still dominant, turned slowly to face them. For a moment, they thought he might lose control again, but he took a step back… and another. And without a word, collapsed, vanishing and coming back into human form. Unconscious. But alive. Lillian exhaled. Blanchette nodded once.
"That… was close."
Albus stepped forward, kneeling beside Cullen, gently placing a hand on his metal shoulder.
"She will come for us," Albus murmured.
Blanchette looked toward the darkened archway where Callidora had escaped.
"I hope she will," she said, determined to have her revenge next time.