The moment I recognize it, the moment I reach out to it, the moment I feel its smooth grip in my hands, I know its name.

“Nightfall…!”

My eyes open. It rests in my hand - a pitch black blade, slightly curved, long and slender, a small rectangular crossguard. I feel the connection between us – it is my own soul I hold in these hands, corrupted by the touch of those monsters, as well as the hatred and fear I harbour towards them.

“You killed Dad,” I say quietly. “You hurt Judith.”

The ghosts are silent. They’ve taken a few steps back from me as I face them, firmly holding onto Nightfall.

“You killed the truck driver too. You ruined his life.”

There are a few whispers coming from the crowd of white. I’m unable to process what they’re saying – the only thing I can feel is a white hot, burning anger.

“What are you?” I look up. Their eyes – no, they don’t have such a feature. Their faces are directed towards the blade in my hands, the katana which is spewing forth black smog like an uncontrollable fire.

“We are demons, and we feed on your souls.”

And now, it clicks.

The moment the demon says it, I know it’s true. They’ve always been here, they’ve always been terrorizing humans since the beginning of time. I don’t know how I know this, but if I were to guess, I would guess that it was because of Nightfall. There is a theory that we only use ten percent of our brains – perhaps this is the power, the finely honed instinct of survival that lies in the other ninety percent of our brains.

I raise Nightfall. This is the first time I’ve ever held a real sword, but at the moment I don’t even think of it as a weapon.

It is my soul. We are the one, two parts of the same being.

I charge into the horde of voices without a single moment’s hesitation.

***

“Bran, are you alright?”

Her cool hands grip my shoulders.

“I’m fine,” I grit, pushing her away. “We need to go after-“

Alice silences me with a single look. She then proceeds to check my wounds, grimacing as she does so.

If you were going to do that anyway, why bother asking in the first place?

“These don’t look good,” she mutters.

I follow her line of sight and flinch. My skin is torn and shredded, and the muscle fibers underneath are clearly visible. If I focus I can see them slowly reknitting themselves, but it’s obvious that they won’t heal as quickly as they’re supposed to.

“It’s got a Divine Edge,” I spit. “We need to kill it quickly, before it gets even stronger. We don’t want it learning how to Soul Link, or learning how to hide itself amongst society.”

“There’s no ‘we’,” Alice replies. “You’re not going anywhere. I’ll go after it, you find somewhere safe to rest and wait for my report.”

“It’s too dangerous,” I protest. “There’s no guarantee you’ll-“

Glare.

A shiver runs down my spine. The look she gave me conveyed more than any amount of words could.

You owe me your life. If you get in my way, I can just as easily take it from you.

A part of me wonders if she can – but then, I remember that I’m in no state to test that theory.

“I’ll stay here then,” I say, swallowing. “Take care.”

Her eyes transition to a softer shade of red as she nods. Standing up from my prone body, she looks off into the direction where the vampire fled.

“I’ll track it to the woods,” she says. “It’s probably gone back to its hideout to nurse its wounds. If I don’t come back… that’s where you should look.”

With that, she sprints away and towards the bridge. I watch her cross it without breaking stride until I’m once again alone by the riverside.

***

It’s over.

I stand alone by the river, shivering not from cold but from fear.

What have I done?

I’ve killed them, every single one of them.

The worst of the thunderstorm is over, and the rain has been reduced to a light sprinkle. A mass of white corpses lie on the ground, their ethereal bodies fluttering softly in the wind. They exist, but only I can see them.

I slaughtered them all. Were they all responsible for Dad’s death? Perhaps. Perhaps only a few were involved, and everyone else was innocent.

They tried to kill me. I acted in self-defense. Yes, I was justified in killing them all. They are evil, they terrorize humans, they feed on them to survive.

But don’t we do the same to other animals? Would it be right for a farm animal to slaughter us in self-defense?

The sound of sirens in the distance rouses me from my thoughts. I look to my hand, and see that the black blade has disappeared. Every time I summon it, I will hear the voices of those demons, and I will feel the anguish they felt. After all my soul has been tainted, and I have been cursed with the gift of life. Unable to die because of my will to live, and unable to live without feeling this emptiness that comes with my power.

I hear voices, concerned voices on the bridge. They must have discovered the dead body. The voices continue to speak, and I hear someone shouting in my direction. Footsteps rush down to where I stand, trampling the ectoplasmic bodies of the fallen wraiths. A towel wraps around me, and I hear more voices.

What will become of me now? I simply will not be able to ignore them, now that I know of their presence. Is it now my responsibility to hunt and kill them? Where do they hide? Are they all invisible to ordinary people? How many different types are there?

As the gentle arms guide me towards the ambulance, I feel someone’s gaze on my back. Turning sideways, I see someone out of the corner of my eye.

Dressed in a black suit, neatly trimmed and wearing tinted glasses. He takes them off, revealing cool grey eyes that stare into my soul. They flicker to the pile of ghost corpses for a brief moment, before returning to my own.

He knows. He can see them.

He has come for me.

***

The snow is beginning to fall once again. Alice breaks into a steady run; if she doesn’t hurry the trail will be buried under a fresh layer of white. The longer she takes, the more time the vampire has to recover.

She stops at the edge of the park. The trail of red goes right across it, all the way into the heavy thicket of the woods. This park is where she first encountered the demon, and where she first encountered the demon hunter.

He’d better not have done anything reckless. She wishes she could keep a closer eye on him, but the words he said were the truth. This vampire cannot be allowed to live for any longer.

Removing concerns for him from her mind, she races off across the snow and plunges past the tree-line. It’s already dark, but with a fresh layer of leaves between her and the sky it’s reached a new level of darkness. If she weren’t a vampire, she would be as blind as a bat.

She follows the dark stains across the earthen ground. The snow here is thinner than in the city, no doubt due to most of the snowflakes being caught in the treetops on the way down. There is plenty of cover; she is at a disadvantage while fighting the feral vampire in its home.

Regardless, she continues to follow the trail. Her father will not accept failure. She must protect the Vancratt clan from exposure to ANGEL, and to do that, the feral vampire must die.

At a certain point, the trail stops. She peers around into the darkness, but there are no signs of where the vampire went. She looks behind her, and sees that the trail has disappeared under a thin layer of snow. She doesn’t remember the way back.

Taking a deep breath, she closes her eyes and calms herself. If she can just climb a tree, she will be able to rectify her stranded situation. No, the more pressing issue is to find and kill her target.

Looking at the ground, she notices a few shredded pieces of bark. The tree in front of her has nail marks in its trunk, ones which match those of a humanoid. Something wet and sticky drips onto her shoulder, and upon glancing at it she realizes that it’s blood.

But not human blood.

Alice whips her head up, just as a black shadow from the canopies blots out her entire field of vision.

***

One more step.

It’s all I can do to take one more step.

Standing up took far more effort than I expected, and every time my foot hits the ground more blood spurts from my wounds. It can’t be just the water – I’m guessing that vampire had more harmful bacteria in its mouth and nails. Despite having regenerative properties, my bloodstream has to be purged before my body can work on the actual wounds themselves. For now, I can only continue walking.

I can’t let Alice fight that thing alone. It’s just a gut feeling, but that thing could be more than a challenge for the Blood Princess. It being weakened does little to alleviate my fears.

Damn demons. I never would have expected that there would be fighting amongst their own race.

The trail is already beginning to disappear from the steadily falling snow, but Alice’s footsteps are still visible. As long as I follow those sandal prints, I’ll be able to find her.

Every inch of the journey I anxiously await her phone call of success. I want to call her to check up on her but if she’s fighting the monster in the forest, a phone call could well spell out her demise. I can only pray that my fears are wrong.

Countless steps later, I finally arrive at the park. I don’t know if the cold’s numbed my senses or if my body has finally gotten rid of the pollutants, but I’m able to walk without cringing. How fitting that the beast would flee back to where we first encountered it.

I’ve rested long enough. Steeling my resolve, I break into a light jog towards the woods.

***

She doesn’t know where it is. Surrounded by the tall trees, she may as well be completely blind. With so many places to hide and attack from, she can only put faith into her other senses.

Rustle.

There. From the left. Something moves, and she whips herself around to narrowly avoid it. The vampire already caught her by surprise the first time, and it was all she could do to avoid having her head taken off. Her left arm droops limply by her side, broken and dislocated.

She holds her Divine Edge in her right hand, her dominant hand. The soft, silver glow lights up her immediate vicinity – an artificial moon in a realm of no light. If she can just get a clear window of time to focus…

Snap.

A twig, to the right this time. Alice raises her blade barely in time to block an attack from the shadows. Metal slides along metal, followed by a sharp pain in her side. The jacket given to her by her ally falls to the ground in a shredded heap, and the shadow disappears as quickly as it appeared.

She needs to find a way to slow it down, or to keep it in her sights for long enough to properly fight. Before the feral vampire can attack again she sprints off into the thicket, kicking up white snow as she does.

How can she turn this around?

Something moves behind her. She ducks instinctively, just as the low whoosh of a blade passes above her head. The crimson razor continues its path unhindered, cutting cleanly through the trunk of a tree. Alice leaps to the side as the giant log comes falling down, shaking the forest as it lands.

Hmm… it’s not certain if it will work, but it’s definitely worth a try.

***

I don’t need the trail of blood, nor sandals to continue my pursuit. I already know which direction Alice has gone, even with no landmarks to guide me in the endless woods.

I can smell blood – her blood.

Most of the poison has been purged from my blood, but I still won’t be able to do anything too strenuous for a while. I continue to trek deeper into the wilderness, trusting my senses.

***

The trees continue to fall as Alice ruthlessly slashes through them. Patches of dim moonlight begin to open up on the ground, brightening the silent forest if only by a bit. She keeps moving, making sure never to stay still enough for her enemy to pinpoint her location. All the while, her silver sword chops down the tall trees effortlessly.

When she’s finally satisfied she stops and leaps onto the highest fallen trunk, above the mass of fallen trees. She’s cleared her enemy’s habitat, creating a single flat arena to match it on even terms. The moon peeks out from behind the snow clouds and illuminates her enemy, allowing her to see it clearly. It glares with a primal rage at the girl and bounds off deeper into the woods.

Alice clutches at her shoulder and leaps down, chasing after it. She is reluctant, but will clear the whole forest if necessary if it means catching her target. Trees will regrow in a few decades, but if ANGEL catches wind of her clan it will not regrow even in a thousand decades. Their roles have reversed once again – she has resumed her part as the hunter.

Trees continue to fall, a single path clearing as she lashes through them with the speed and agility of a beast. Her strength is returning with each inch of moonlight that touches her skin, and it’s not long before she finally corners it.

They’ve arrived at the side of a ridge, and a simple cavity in the stone wall littered with bones, bloodstains and rotting corpses tells her that she’s found it – the vampire’s home.

It has nowhere to run now, with the tall rocky expanse towering behind it. Judging from its heavy breathing, it doesn’t have the stamina to continue running anyway.

Alice herself isn’t in the best condition either, but there’s nothing she can do. After all, she’s come all this way and destroyed half of the woods in doing so. The snow continues to fall, unhindered.

Brandishing her blade, she points it at the vampire with her uninjured hand as if issuing a silent challenge.

***

This jacket… I’ve seen it before.

I grab it and shake the powdery snow off. The reason I’ve seen it before is because it belongs to me. It’s cleanly slit across the centre, and the warm blood that coats it definitely belongs to Alice.

Clenching my teeth, I break into a run. Each step racks my body with pain, but I can’t rule out the possibility that she’s in danger.

It isn’t long before I break into a clearing, glowing silver in the moonlight. Upon second glance, I realize that it’s not a clearing, and rather a circumference of fallen trees. They’ve been cleaved through at the base and cover the ground in an assortment of leaves and trunks.

There’s no way this could have been nature’s work. She was here for sure.

Letting out a steamy breath, I leap through the light snow and onto the trail of fallen trees.

***

It’s fast.

She doesn’t know if it’s because she’s injured, or because it’s backed against a wall. She’s been on the defensive ever since the fight began.

It uses all the weapons it has at its disposal – its Divine Edge, its nails, its teeth, its body. It truly fights like an animal – a style no civilized being would be capable of. She has no idea how the boy managed to hold his own against this thing.

Sparks fly as their blades meet. The moon has disappeared behind the clouds and the forest is once again pitch black. Her blade is the only light in the darkness, and even so its silver glow is dimmer than usual due to her condition. Her movements are clumsy, her balance offset by her fractured arm. They cut each other again and again, only for their wounds to regenerate. To defeat it, she must either separate its head from its body, or completely destroy every inch of it in one blow.

It’s only natural that the feral vampire is stronger. It’s been feeding on O type blood for several days in a row while she’s been surviving on animal blood for several years. However, this isn’t something she can change. She’s lived with it up until now without a problem. She has to stay in the moment, maintain concentration.

The vampire’s fist clips her side, scraping the frock she’s wearing. An object falls out of her pocket and onto the ground – her phone.

In the brief moment in which she’s distracted, something goes piercing into her abdomen. She looks down and sees a jagged crimson edge. Reacting instinctively she pushes herself away with a cry of pain, creating a space between them to recover.

This isn’t good. If the fight drags on for any longer, she will lose. If only she could have a chance – something, anything that could turn the tide of the battle. She could destroy it in one blow if she could Soul Link – but to do that, she needs at least a few moments without being attacked.

Sensing imminent victory, the feral vampire lashes forward with a renewed sense of vigour. Filthy nails come at her when swings of the razor are blocked. Body slams connect with her when their blades refuse to make ground. She doesn’t know what to expect, and her body cannot keep up. The wound made by the enemy’s Divine Edge isn’t healing quickly enough, and she’s beginning to feel light-headed.

Something… anything that can help her…

“ALICE!”

A distant shout from the path of fallen trees. Alice cannot help but look away, her focus broken.

And in this moment, her enemy strikes.

***

She’s there, at the end of the path. Her white frock is stained red, and her left arm hangs limply by her side. The feral vampire is in no better condition, but its base strength is simply stronger. If this goes on for any longer, she will die.

I capture all this in a single blink of the eye. I’m too far away to help. If I could Soul Link, I would be able to reach her in time – but my body simply won’t allow it. Human bodies know their limits, and will not allow you to willingly kill yourself. You can try to commit suicide by holding your breath, but you’ll instinctively breathe in when your body reaches its limit. If I synchronize completely with Nightfall, it takes a full day of rest before I can do it again without destroying all the muscle fibres in my body. In my current condition, Soul Linking is out of the question.

What can I do then? My eyes capture the scene before me, frame by frame. My mind moves at lightning fast speed, my perception at its very pinnacle. Something… anything at all that can turn the tide of this battle.

Without realizing it, I’ve found the answer. My body has already determined its course of action, and I can feel my hand reaching into my pocket. My thoughts catch up and overtake my body in a flash, and I find my eyes stopping on the mobile phone that lies on the ground in the distance.

Faster!

My hands close around my own phone. I know what to do. I know what to do. But can I make it in time?

Faster!!

My mouth is open. I’ve unlocked my phone – never have I been more relieved that I don’t protect it with a passcode.

FASTER!

“ALICE!”

My shout travels at three hundred and forty metres per second, and reaches her ears. She turns to me, a look of surprise and horror as she realizes that she’s given her opponent an opening.

I press the speed-dial button on my phone, just as the feral vampire closes in for the final blow.

***

Bzzzzzt.

The loud vibrating of her phone distracts the vampire. It can’t help but turn its head a few metres away to look at it.

Alice is about to turn to retreat, but realizes in an instant that this is what she needed.

A chance. An opportunity.

The vampire stumbles backwards as the brightness of the screen temporarily stuns it. The forest is almost pitch black due to the blanket of grey blotting out the moon, and the vampire is at the peak of its powers from its diet of O type blood. Every single vampire knows that greater power comes with greater weakness – pure blooded vampires are stronger at night, but weaker in the day. Half vampires are not as strong at night, but also not as weak in the day. Vampires which feed on the most potent type of blood gain tremendous strength, but pay for it with tremendous weakness.

Because of these conditions, the brightness of the ringing phone which wouldn’t blind Alice or the boy… is like staring into the sun for the feral vampire.

Alice widens her stance, a single arm holding her Divine Edge before her. Ranked as one of the most powerful weapons known to her clan, her strength comes not only from her battle prowess, but from the purity of her soul which she wields. The silver aura emanating from the blade flares to life and surrounds her as she welcomes it to her body, allowing it to multiply her strength tenfold. The snow continues to fall in the darkness but curves away from her slight frame. Even nature respects the power of her Divine Edge.

The soft light grows into a harsh one as she channels all her energy into the longsword. Only she is not blinded by this magnificence, because this is what she is, a shining light in the darkness. The pressure in the air intensifies, electrifies, and drops. The boy’s ears pop as he watches on in wonder. Alice’s eyes flare red, glowing almost as brightly as the sword in her hands. The feral vampire looks up having finally recovered, only to find itself face to face with its death.

The silver light builds up to a pinnacle, burning as brightly as the sun. Alice lets out a cry and steps forward, placing every last ounce of her strength into this thrust. The tip of her sword pierces the vampire’s chest, before igniting and exploding in a supernova of silver.