A dazzling silver moon loomed overhead, its brilliant light reflecting off the iron spikes of the gothic-style carriage dashing down the dirt road leading to the nearby city of Blackblood.
The coachman pulled the reins ever so slightly, trying to keep the horses from going too fast since such uneven terrain posed a significant risk of destroying the carriage wheels and leaving both him and his passengers stranded.
"Is everything alright out there?"
A powerful low-pitched voice echoed from the carriage as the wheel slammed against the jagged stones lodged in the road.
"Yes, yes, everything is fine. The road is just being a bit difficult. But that's nothing new for this path."
There was a hint of shaking in his voice as he clenched the reins tighter, trying his hardest to stay focused on the road.
Meanwhile, inside the carriage, two passengers sat on opposite sides, facing one another.
One of them was Emily Blackwing, a petite woman with long, curly hair that fell to her lower back. She wore a black, frilly, ornate dress with an exposed front, complemented by her black and purple striped stockings and black puffy shorts.
The other was Tolkien Silva, a tall gentleman with spiky white hair wearing a black leather trench coat decorated with silver trimmings.
"Hey, Silva, do you think he's hiding something?"
Emily whispered as her fingers inched toward her silver-encrusted flintlock rifle, strapped to her waist.
"No! Just because the guy is a bit nervous doesn't mean he's hiding something. You're being paranoid."
Silva replied as he quickly pulled his iron long sword from his hip, using the side of the blade to swat her hand away before she could firmly grasp the handle of her gun.
Emily glanced at Silva, her eyes sharper than the dagger in her boot, folding her arms as she leaned back, puffing her cheeks.
"Fine! but if this comes back to bite us, it's on you."
Silva sighed, dismissing Emily's rambling as mere paranoia. Something she was well-known for.
He turned to face the window, preferring to enjoy the sights rather than to give any care to Emily's words.
When the familiar sound of wings flapping caught both his and Emily's ears.
Without wasting a second, she turned to Silva, hand on cheek, with the most smug smile she could muster pasted across her face.
Silva rolled his eyes and then looked away.
"This doesn't prove anything. It'll fly right past us, finally proving me right."
Silva's voice shook slightly as he began to doubt his previous statement.
Emily, on the other hand, continued looking at him with the same expression, her smile widening a little more with each passing second.
"You know I'm right. There's no need to be stubborn."
As the sound of the wings grew closer, Emily stood up and walked over to Silva, giving him a kiss on his forehead before turning around and leaping through the window behind her, shouting as she landed.
"Trying not to die, my dear friend."
Sweat rolled down Silva's face as his body began to shake.
He sighed before walking over to the front of the carriage, sliding open the little window that allowed him to easily talk to the coachman without having to shout.
"Hello there, now don't be alarmed. I'm not going to arrest you or anything, but is the shadow barrier crystal atop the carriage fake?"
In an instant, the coachman turned around, pulling his flintlock pistol from its holster, pressing it against Silva's forehead.
His eyes widened as tears began trickling down his cheek.
He couldn't hold the gun straight; he was too afraid.
"You're being forced to do this, aren't you?"
Silva sighed as he stared into the coachman's eye, his gaze intense .
"Yes."
The coachman's voice was as shaky as his unstable hands, the complete opposite of Silva, who was completely calm even though there was a gun held to his head.
"Alright, what are they using against you—blackmail, a lover, or..."
The coachman cut him off mid-sentence.
"They have my little girl."
Silva's words hitched at his throat. He didn't expect that answer.
He sighed before quickly moving out of the gun's way and grabbing onto the coachman's hand before he could react, pulling him forward, and slamming his head into the window frame, knocking him out.
"Huh...hopefully you can forgive me for this, good sir."
Silva leapt out of one of the side windows. Holding on to its frame as he swung his body over to the coachman's seat. Landing perfectly beside the coachman before grabbing his unconscious body and leaping off the carriage.
Doom!!
Seconds before, a giant humanoid bat-looking creature slammed into the carriage full force, sending bits of iron shards flying in all directions. Reducing the once elegant carriage to a pile of scrap metal.
That luckily flew over both their heads as they landed in a patch of grass on the other side of the road.
"Dang! Emily's never going to let me live this off."
Silva laid the coachman on the ground as he stood up, wiping off the dirt on his coat when the same humanoid bat landed before him.
Revealing a creature that stood on both legs like a man, with large bat wings protruding from his back and puffs of beautiful black fur surrounding his neck contrasted by his grotesque bat head.
Silva looked at the creature with a disgusted frown, almost gagging at the sight of its face.
"You know I could never get used to a vampire's beast form; the body isn't so bad, but the face is horrendous."
The vampire turned his head in confusion, wondering why Silva wasn't afraid to face what should be his imminent death.
"You dare talk to me in such a manner when I could easily rip your head off. "
Silva smiled while shaking his head. Vampires weren't anything new to him; he'd seen many and lived to tell the tale. Heck, he'd even killed a few before.
"Your kind doesn't really scare me now. The ghouls, on the other hand, they're terrifying."
Silva giggled as he spoke, not showing an ounce of fear, which left the vampire quite annoyed.
He raised his claws in the air, aiming at Silva's neck, determined to strike down this annoying little pest .
Silva's face didn't change as he saw the beast's claws raised, ready to strike him down; instead, he raised his right hand, pointing to the left as he uttered the words.
"You know there were two of us, right?"
BANG!
A silver bullet radiating purple energy pierced the left side of the bat's skull. Flying through the other side without any resistance.
Brilliant purple crystals emanating black and purple flames began forming at the entry wound, growing until they slowly encapsulated the beast's entire body.
....
"Ok! before you say, "I told you so." Let me just say his daughter is being held hostage, and if you killed him, their blood would be on your hands."
Silva shouted as he saw Emily leaping out of one of the nearby trees with her rifle resting on her shoulder as smoke leaked from the barrel.
She walked over to Silva, not saying a word until she was right in front of him.
Pressing the barrel of her rifle against his chest and looking up at him only to see his chin since even in her five-inch heels she was still significantly shorter, she replied.
"I was still right! But I'll give you this much at least: you saved a somewhat innocent man from my gun, so good for you."
Though Emily spoke with confidence and sass only matched by the nobility of this land, internally she couldn't believe she was right.
She'd accused many in the past and gotten a few right, but a win like this was rare.
This stroke of luck filled her with unmatchable confidence.
She held her head high. The light of her ego shone off her as she walked past Silva.
"Come along, Silva; we can help your little friend when we reach the town."
Silva sighed; he could easily see that Emily's ego had inflated beyond reason.
He picked up the coachman, throwing him over his shoulders, and walked behind Emily, trying his best to ignore her prideful rambling as they made their way to Blackblood on foot.
The sound of beasts howling and scratching echoed through the nearby trees, getting louder as they continued down the road.
Silva's eyes darted in all directions, landing on every shadow, every rustling bush.
This constant alertness came from years of experience dealing with werewolves, vampires, and other Fallen.
"Do you see anything back there?"
Emily replied as she walked ahead, rifle cocked and aimed ahead, ready for another attack.
"No, but there's a few Fallen nearby; luckily for us, they seem to be busy at the moment."
Silva answered, wondering how long it would take for them to reach the city, looking quite annoyed that he had to carry a body through a monster-filled forest.