“Attention, all shoppers. Attention, all shoppers. This is an emergency. Please evacuate the shopping centre in a calm and orderly fashion via your nearest exit. I repeat, please evacuate via your nearest exit. This is an emergency.”

The announcer’s voice blares over the food court yet again. Some customers still haven’t caught sight of the feral vampire and are moving along as if they have all the time in the world, but that’s about to change.

The vampire moves quickly and pounces on an overweight woman, tackling her to the ground. She lets out a scream before her chest explodes in a mist of red. This sound finally seems to draw some attention, and that’s when the real panic begins.

Barry looks out at me from the corner of his eye, his mouth twisted in a snarl. “Demons,” he mutters under his breath.

I nod in response. Beside me, Alice’s fists are balled up so tightly that her palms must be bleeding.

The vampire continues to feed on the corpse with no regard to the chaos ensuing around it. A few moments later another one leaps in through the broken fire exit, followed by a third. They shiver with excitement like small children in a confectionary factory.

“Shit,” I curse. “We need to leave. Now!”

Grabbing Ashley and Judith’s hands, I haul them with me as fast as possible to where the crowd has begun to merge into one giant stampede. Screams are thrown everywhere as people are caught and killed – I think the vampires have long since stopped killing for food, and are rather doing so out of enjoyment or some other factor.

As someone right next to me is taken down and slaughtered, I clench my fist and sock the vampire right in the face. It goes sprawling back into a table, splintering it before collapsing in a heap.

“We have to stay back,” I say to Barry. Alice looks like she’s about to leap into battle at any second so I place an arm firmly on her shoulder.

“Get everyone to safety,” I growl.

“You can’t fight them on your own-“

I move in towards her so that Barry doesn’t hear. “Don’t give yourself away yet. He still doesn’t know.”

Alice matches my gaze before finally nodding. “Fine. I’ll be back.”

Judith, Leo and Ashley don’t seem to notice that we’ve been separated in the midst of the crowd. Byron appears to know what’s going on from the resolute nod he throws in our direction.

Bang! Bang!

The sound of gunshots going off only serves to heighten the sense of alarm. The crowd becomes an unstoppable force, trampling everything in its path in order to squeeze through to the lower floors. A quick look behind me almost causes me to throw up – there are already several dozen victims lying scattered about like ragdolls, painting the food court in a nauseating shade of red. The three vampires have surrounded two security guards who are frantically firing off rounds. Even though they hit their targets squarely, all it takes is a few moments before the holes in their flesh begin to close.

“There’s more of those buggers over there,” Barry growls.

On the opposite side of the centre two vampires have appeared from the fire stairs. In the blink of an eye, two more people have been slaughtered.

“You take care of these guys,” I say. “I’ll handle those.”

Without waiting for a response I race towards the other two vampires. More screams arise from the crowd – it seems like the demons are swarming in from all the emergency exits at once. Shoppers have started jumping off the railings to avoid the congested escalators, some of them landing successfully while others land with sickening thuds. I don’t even want to think about how many people have been trampled underfoot by the crowd already.

So this is what it looks like when all hell breaks loose.

I have to somehow contain them so ANGEL gets enough time to send backup. A pale blur of jagged nails and bony fingers comes flying towards my chest, but I step backwards and draw Nightfall in an instant. The vampire hesitates as it tries to regain its footing, allowing me to separate its head from its body.

They don’t seem as powerful as the vampire with the bounty, so Barry and I may just be able to hold them off for a while. However, the more pressing issue on my mind is… where did all these vampires come from?

I swiftly dodge another clumsy swipe and lop off the second vampire’s head as well. They have the exact same look as the one Alice and I killed a few nights ago – an insane expression, driven only by instinct. Could they be under the influence of drugs too?

With the vampires in this section cleared, I risk a glance backwards. Baz wasn’t able to save any of the guards, but the three vampires lay decapitated by the blade of his giant fiery battle-axe.

We nod simultaneously and rush towards the other exits, all of which are spewing out the monsters in groups of one and two. The ground is littered with corpses and blood – it’s all I can do to avoid falling or slipping on any of the obstacles on the ground.

“I’ll go up,” Barry grunts, his Divine Edge cleaving through a vampire in a haze of embers. “You go down. Save as many as you can.”

“That goes without saying.”

Nodding together, we part ways by the escalators.

***

“Where’s Bran?”

Ashley, Leo, Judith and Byron have already made it outside when she realizes. She tries to turn her head and get a look, but the force of the panicking crowd is too great.

“Bran! Barry!”

They scream out for the two, but their calls are lost in the crowd.

“I’ll go look for them,” Alice says.

“Wait…”

Ashley is about to tell Alice that it’s too dangerous, but for some reason seeing the determined look on the other’s face removes her ability to speak.

“Good luck,” she says instead. Alice turns around, shoving her way through the crowd and back through the doors.

It’s deathly quiet as she wanders the ground floor, taking care not to disturb any of the corpses. She doesn’t know why, but a particularly unsettling feeling has wormed its way into her. Who caused these attacks? How did they do it? Why did they do it?

The attack is too organized. And the timing… just when they’d taken care of that feral vampire, a whole swarm arrives…

The stench of blood is thick in the air. Alice pauses and hears the sound of teeth ripping into flesh, of blood being guzzled down. Preparing herself for the worst, she steps out from around the corner.

Two vampires raise their heads like animals caught in a headlamp. Blood drips from their mouths in long sticky strands.

Both parties move at once. Alice dashes forward and weaves around an incoming attack, bringing her weapon up to completely cleave the vampire in half. The second vampire has already moved in to follow up, but she crouches low and tumbles out of the way. Her feet touch the ground for a fraction of a second before she’s in the air again, using the momentum of her jump to slash across the vampire’s midsection before it can react. Both demons collapse onto the ground, their upper bodies separated from their lower ones.

Before she can catch her breath, the sound of snarling and bare feet padding across the ground reaches her ears. Slowly turning around, she sees more vampires appear from the corners of her vision, creeping in from the walls, the floor above, even the ventilation ducts.

Even though she isn’t a human, they eye her hungrily. Alice stands with her back against the wall, thoughts of how to escape desperately racing through her head.

***

One of the feral vampires is scratching at the closed doors of the elevator. It doesn’t look like it knows what the buttons do, so it’s trying to open it by brute force. There are no sounds coming from within, but I can almost smell the fear from those trapped inside.

I crouch low, moving as quietly as I can. By the time the vampire notices, Nightfall has already travelled through its neck. I can see the flesh closing around the wound as the vampire’s head rolls to the ground, but with no brain all the regeneration in the world won’t save it.

“Go!” I yell, slamming the button to open the doors. The terrified people within are huddled in one corner, but the moment they realize I’m not an enemy they bolt off as fast as their legs can carry them.

With this section clear, that should be the whole floor. Barry’s taking care of the upper floors, so I’ll head down and see if there’s anything else I can do.

Placing one wrist on the railing I carefully jump down to the level beneath, landing cleanly on the carpet.

***

Barry wrenches his axe from the skull of a dead vampire and pants. The top floor has been completely cleared. There were only three to be found, compared to the five on the floor below. The amount of dead bodies has also drastically decreased from lower floors, due to the direction in flow of the crowd.

The big man clears the sweat from his brow and heads towards the fire exit. The one thing he noticed was that a majority of the vampires had flooded into the shopping centre through the fire stairs – maybe he will find the answer if he takes them all the way to the top.

Taking one last look at the near empty place behind him, he pushes open the door and heads into the stairwell.

The cold grey concrete of the steps spirals downwards in a dizzying descent. Barry grips the edge of the railing and shakes his head – he doesn’t need to look down; his destination is above him. Taking them steps two at a time, it isn’t long before he reaches the door to the rooftop. It’s been battered open and is swaying in the wind.

Taking a deep breath, Barry steps out into the open. Around him the high-rise buildings of Ashbrook stretch out as far as the eye can see. However, his attention is caught by the person that leans against the fence right in the centre of his vision. An ornate set of blood-red armour protects his body and hides his face. It’s nothing like he’s ever seen before – the style and material that comprises the suit is alien in nature, something that cannot be the work of man.

“Who are you?” Barry yells.

The armoured being turns around. Raising its visor, Barry sees two gleaming red eyes.

“None of your business,” it growls.

The figure slowly walks forward. Despite being the taller of the two, Barry can’t help but take a few steps back. For some reason, the thing in front of him commands a presence that reminds him of a lord looking down upon his subjects.

“Are you behind this?” he cries. “Why? Answer me now!”

A low rattling sound emerges from the helmet, which gradually grows louder. Barry realizes that the stranger is laughing at him.

“You are an interesting human,” it muses, its voice muffled from the armour. “However, I cannot forgive you for murdering so many of my servants. Because of you, I will personally have to dip my hand into this affair.”

Before Barry can answer, the man raises his arm and draws a blood-red spear from midair. Although crude in design, the spear screams of age and power. Just by looking at it, he can almost hear the screams of all its past victims in his mind. There can be no doubt – this is a Divine Edge, wielded by an incredibly powerful demon.

“It feels like a shame to waste my strength on you,” the figure sighs. “But I have to be down there in person now, since you killed all of my minions.”

The wind blows, and the figure is gone.

“Where did the cunt go?” Barry grunts. There’s a whir of movement behind him, and he turns just in time to face the incoming tip of the spear.

Barry raises his axe and blocks it, losing his balance as he does so. Before he can comprehend what just happened, the figure is gone again.

“Fast bugger,” he curses. It seems like the armour doesn’t encumber his opponent at all.

He hears the low whistling of the spear again, and turns – but it’s too late. His side opens up in pain as the barb pierces through, barely missing his vital organs.

Barry is speechless. He’s never faced such a strong or powerful opponent in all his years of service. There can be no doubt… this armoured knight is an S ranked demon, one of the strongest to ever walk the land. Compared to it, the A rank demons he’s defeated cannot even hold a candle to this monster.

“If you stop struggling that would make things so much easier.”

Barry leaps backwards from the voice that spoke right beside him. The scarlet knight stands casually with its massive spear on its shoulder, watching in interest.

“No way,” Baz grunts through the pain. “I won’t lose to the likes of you.”

He drops one end of his battle-axe to the ground and makes the decision. It takes a fraction of a second to synchronize his soul with Firebrand – if he can’t beat him with this, he can’t beat him at all.

His Divine Edge flickers with golden flames as it slowly rises off the ground. Barry picks it up and swings it in a massive arc, sending a wave of hungry conflagration towards the being. It hesitates for a moment as if briefly stunned before leaping out of the way. Barry thrusts his burning axe before him, watching his enemy’s reaction.

“You’re a vamp, aren’t ya?” he grunts, as more of his blood spills to the ground. “But not a feral one.”

“So even you’ve figured it out,” the knight replies. “I didn’t expect one like you to have such a sharp mind.”

Barry swings the axe again, sending another burst of fire into the air. The rooftop is scorching hot now – even with no fuel, the flames will continue to burn until Barry runs out of energy.

“You’re making this incredibly hard for me,” the figure grunts. “I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this…”

“Shut ya trap,” Barry roars, lunging forward. His cry ends in a grunt of pain as more blood spills from the wound in his side. Despite the labyrinth of flames the knight is unscathed.

Panting, Barry tries to attack again – but his opponent has already disappeared. Looking around in bewilderment, it’s only when he hears the screeching above him that he realizes where.

One millisecond passes before the point of the red spear plunges into Barry’s shoulder from directly above – and continues downward. His knees buckle beneath him as the armoured being continues to drive its spear down, forcing Barry onto his back, further down until the tip hits the ground… and further still. A huge tremor emerges from the point of impact, almost ripping his body apart from within before the entire rooftop collapses. Clouds of dust, rocks and debris fly into the air as the knight continues to head down, pushing through the ceiling into the highest floor.

Barry hits the bottom of the top floor, but doesn’t stop there. He sees the berserk gleam of red through the visor as his assailant continues to dive, destroying this floor too.

Weightlessness takes him once more as he falls again, only to be stopped on the next level beneath.

And this continues floor by floor as the demon spirals further and further towards the bottom, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.

***

The vampires have no idea how to work as a pack. Pushing in front of each other like animals fighting over a scrap of meat, the only reason Alice is still alive is because of their lack of cooperation.

Two snarls come from behind her belonging to two vampires closing in too quickly for her comfort. One of them bumps into the other and sends it off course – however, it manages to rake Alice’s arm before she can push it away. There are cuts and bruises all over her body; just as she evades this attack, something else barrels into her from behind and sends her crashing through the window of a clothing shop.

Frantically trying to free herself from the tangle of clothing, she steps across the glass and stumbles back out of the store. Pain begins to take over her body as the clear edges open new wounds.

Why are they after her?

She almost falls over. Her head feels incredibly airy – she’s lost too much blood. Her eyes dart to the ground where there are an endless supply of corpses to feed on and regain strength, but she forcefully pries her gaze away. She will never drink human blood again, not for as long as she lives.

Another of the figures tackles her to the ground, trying to clamp its jaw over her neck. Alice weakly struggles against it, trying to pull away its iron grip. She knees it in the stomach and opens its throat with Moonlight; however the vampire’s grip still hasn’t loosened. Another one rams into her, taking her breath away and causing a part of her body to crunch. It takes a few moments before she can register the pain, but once it does she almost faints from the shock.

Agony takes over her mind and paralyzes her body. With two of the things on top of her, there’s no way she can push them off with one hand. Her left arm still hasn’t completely recovered and now it’s just been broken again. A voice is screaming nearby, a distorted and bestial cry of pain. She quickly realizes that the voice belongs to her.

The feeling of hard, rotten nails pressing against her chest is almost lost amongst the intense throbbing of her left arm. She feels her skin tearing open as the hand forces itself deeper, aiming for her heart.

Why?

Her blood is worthless to them…

Just as she’s about to completely fade out, she hears more voices in the distance. Snippets and phrases catch her ears – a welcome change from the incomprehensible growls of the feral vampires.

The weight on her chest is lifted, and light enters her vision once again. Someone is shaking her, and all around her she can hear the sounds of fighting and skirmishing. What happened?

“Alice! Are you alright?”

Before she can recognize whose voice that is, the darkness finally swallows her.

***

I’ve made my way to the bottom floor. The building should now be completely cleared except this level, if Barry did his job right.

I can hear the sound of fighting up ahead. It seems like the majority of the feral vampires have found their way to the bottom. The question of why this is all happening is still on my mind, but I’ve pushed it away to make room for more important things.

It looks like a massive struggle happened here. The windows of a few shops have been shattered and there are several headless vampires strewn about the floor. But who could have-

Alice.

“Damnit… everyone else had better be safe,” I mutter.

As soon as I say this, a bloodcurdling scream rips through the air from around the corner. I know whose voice that is…

“Alice…!”

I tear across the ground with all my strength. I’ve never heard her cry out like that – she must be in incredible pain.

The seconds tick on as I draw closer and closer to the source. Almost slipping on a puddle of blood, I skid to a halt – just in time to witness the end of the battle.

In front of me is a legion of men dressed in ordinary looking clothes – and at their head is a man I’ve seen before, his slick white hair combed neatly back. His suit is stained with blood and scratches along it reveal a layer of tough leather hide beneath. He wipes the length of his thin rapier on the body of a dead vampire and looks at me.

“Ia - My lord,” I tip my head.

“I see you remembered your manners, half-blood.”

Ian Vancratt gestures to his men. At once, their bloodstained weapons disappear.

“What happened?” I ask. “Is Alice alright?”

The Blood Lord points behind him to where a few of his coven are bent over an unmoving body. “She’s heavily injured, but should live. More importantly… what the blazes happened here?”

He gestures at the mass of feral vampire corpses around.

“The hell if I know,” I mutter. “We killed the one that was causing you trouble before, and that should have been that…”

Ian prods the dead body by his feet. “There’s no way they would massacre so many. Even wild vampires have more sense than to mindlessly slaughter. No, I’m willing to bet that someone planned this.”

Just as things start to quieten down, the entire building shudders. I fall to my knees and look up – dust is falling from the ceiling.

“What’s going on?” I cry.

The ground continues to shake like an earthquake. I try to stand up, but fall back down onto the ground. The other vampires are also trying to maintain their balance, but to no avail.

The shaking slowly builds up in intensity until there is one final shudder – and the roof explodes.

Dust and debris spout from the hole and a red blur breaks through, colliding with the ground. A heavy force pushes everyone away from the point of impact, knocking us off our feet. The shaking stops, but small tremors still rack the building in various places.

I cough and spit the dust away from my eyes and nose, struggling to see. A glint of crimson catches my eyes, and only when the cloud completely dissipates do I realize it’s armour.

There’s a sickening wrench of something being pulled out of flesh, and the armoured figure steps away from the crater. My eyes tentatively wander over to that spot – and feel my heart stop.

It’s Barry – the red hair is unmistakable. A gaping red hole lies in place of his right shoulder, and the first few inches of skin and flesh immediately surrounding it has been blown away entirely. Blood and burn marks streak his body and I can see the soft fizzle of his fiery soul around his skin.

He shudders weakly, but his chest continues to rise and fall. He should be dead. There’s no way someone can survive from such a wound –

No. Perhaps Barry is the only person who could survive such an attack. The area around his shoulder is raw and red, but isn’t bleeding.

He must have cauterized it with his Divine Edge, Firebrand. But even so, how did he survive a fall from all the way up there?

My eyes wander to the armoured figure, and the smoking tip of its spear. It’s only a guess, but if that thing destroyed the ground as they fell, it would mean he didn’t collide with anything until the final floor. The rubble and debris created instantaneously by the spear could have even provided cushioning for the big man.

A Divine Edge capable of such power… what is that thing?

“Who are you?” Ian asks, voicing the question on all our minds.

Tremors continue to pass as the building settles after having a hole punched through it. The red knight turns… and its helmet sublimates in a similar way a Divine Edge would.

Underneath the helmet is a middle aged man, his long blond hair streaked with grey. Rough stubble lines his chin, and his eyes glow a malevolent red.

“No way…” Ian drops to the ground, his face a deathly pale.

“What’s going on?” I cry.

The faces of the Blood Lord’s men have also paled.

“Impossible…”

“After all this time…”

“The tales were true…”

Ian takes a step back. “What do you want with us? Why are you here now of all times?”

The armoured man takes a deep breath and speaks, his voice booming with a quiet confidence and arrogance. “It feels good to breathe again after all these years. It’s just a shame things had to be like this.”

“What do you want with me?” Ian cries.

The man whirls his spear. “This is pathetic. I can’t believe we’ve been reduced to hiding underground, our clan that was once the strongest in the land. What have you been doing all this time?”

“Times have changed,” Ian shoots back. “You can’t possibly know. You’ve disappeared off the face of the earth for centuries now. We’re not what we once were.”

The man shoots me a look. “Look at you. Hiding in fear of the hunters, the humans, society. We would never have stood for this. You’re clearly too weak to be a leader.”

At the mention of this, Ian seems to realize something. “You… you were behind all of this?”

The armoured demon nods. “It was the only way to bring you and your daughter out in the open. I already knew that there would be no way you’d willingly hand over what I wanted.”

“Those feral vampires…”

“Drugged to insanity. I’ll admit I was surprised your daughter dealt with the first one – I was expecting you to step in and make my job easier. Instead, I had to resort to this.”

“What do you want with my daughter? What business do you have?”

There’s a long silence before the crimson knight finally responds. “Your family still shares the blood of Dracula, after all this time… but it has been tainted by outsiders. Only you and your daughter are still pure – ideally I would have taken your wife, but she is dead. The only suitable bride for me now is Alice Vancratt.”

I’m on my feet before I can even think. “What the fuck? That’s sick! She’s just a girl!”

The man turns around at the sound of my voice. “What do you want, scum? Filthy half-bloods like you have no right to address me!”

“I won’t let you anywhere near my daughter,” Ian growls.

The man turns his back to me, fueling my rage even more. “That’s fine. I’d expected that answer anyway.”

He suddenly reaches out his spear arm and before anyone can react, it’s extended to nearly five times its length. Ian lets out a choking sound as he looks down and sees the tip buried deep in his chest.

“Weakling,” the man spits. “A strong Blood Lord would never have fallen so quickly.”

As if broken out of a trance, the Vancratt clan kicks into action. As one, they rush forward to support their leader – but the spear suddenly bends sharply, forming a makeshift hook. As soon as the impaled man is firmly in place, it retracts and shrinks back to its normal size, pulling the Blood Lord along with it.

As if they know what’s about to happen, Ian’s followers desperately scramble for their leader – but it’s too late.

The armoured man bends down and sinks his teeth into Ian’s neck, drinking down the vampire’s blood. It only takes a few moments before he removes his face from the Blood Lord and tosses him aside.

“Disgusting,” he says, wiping his lips of the red. “The blood of a weakling.”

The vampires hesitate, before resuming their attack. The man raises his hand without blinking.

“Obey.”

His eyes flash red, and I feel a stiffness take over the atmosphere. The group of vampires who had already moved forward to attack are frozen, desperately struggling to overcome the command. I can see them quivering in their spots, rooted to the ground.

“Bow.”

They’re struggling against the order, but the power of the Blood Lord is too strong. One by one, they fall to their knees.

“I am Vladimir Dracula III, the Prince of Wallachia and the first vampire to reach these lands. Without me, you would all still be stuck in Hell having never known this wondrous place. I have awakened from my slumber, and hereby reclaim my title as Blood Lord.”

A deadly silence takes over as the vampires are forced to acknowledge their leader.

“I will salvage the land that has been taken from us by these humans, one acre at a time, and you will follow me as destined by your blood. As my first act, I will have you take the girl to safety and ensure she stays alive. I care not for her condition, as long as she can bear healthy children.”

The vampires stand up as one, unable to resist their commands. Moving over to Alice, one of them gently lifts her onto their back. Dracula scans the place one more time before his eyes rest on me.

I can’t move. I know I need to save her, but I also know that if I try to fight now… I will die.

Stay calm. Stay calm. Don’t jump in without a ninety percent chance of survival…

“Let’s go,” the new Blood Lord says. “This boy is a weakling. He is not worthy of my spear.”

The men nod and head off towards the back exit, taking Alice with them. Dracula smirks one last time at me before following them, leaving me alone in a graveyard of bleeding corpses.

“Boy…”

I quickly rush over to where Ian lies on the ground. The wound in his neck has closed, but his chest is still bleeding.

“Alice… you have to save her…”

“Hold on,” I mutter. “We’ll talk this through later. Wait for your wound to regenerate-“

“No, boy. That spear… it negates vampiric regeneration. I want you to listen carefully before I die.”

He speaks calmly, as if he has all the time in the world.

“You are the only one who can fight him. Only two people outside of Alice and I share his blood – and you are one of them. The other one is lost, and was never a fighter.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Your existence is a mistake, and a convenient one at that.” Ian clears his throat. “He cannot control you because of Alice’s blood in your veins. You are also strong, and possess the vampiric reflexes necessary to fight him head on. No human hunter can hope to fight a demon of his caliber. If he is allowed to continue his path of conquest, all that we’ve built up… it will be destroyed. ANGEL will erase us.”

I nod. “I’ll kill him.”

“Save Alice. Defeat him, and become the Blood Lord.”

At the mention of this, I immediately balk.

“No,” I firmly say. “I couldn’t care less about your clan. I’m going to get revenge for Bazza, and repay Alice. You’ll be lucky if I don’t wipe out your clan myself, demon.”

The hint of a smile touches Ian’s lips. “Haah… I knew there was something different about you the moment I first set eyes on you. You were already part demon before you met Alice, weren’t you?”

“You…!”

“Only a demon could be so uncompassionate towards others. I’m surprised you haven’t killed Alice already with that hatred you hold for us.”

Something inside of me breaks.

Nightfall is in my hands in a flash as I plunge it straight through his eye and into his brain.

The sound of police sirens in the distance signals the arrival of the emergency services, as well as ANGEL. Barry seems to be in a stable condition – they’ll find him soon enough and nurse him back to full health. For now I have to escape, and find Alice.

I killed him. I killed Ian, just as I promised to myself. But why do I feel so shaken?

Only a demon could be so uncompassionate towards others.

No. I’m a human. I may have demon blood and my soul may be tainted by demons, but I’m a human. I feel remorse when I kill demons who aren’t necessarily harmful. I felt remorse killing that innocent vampire girl back in the sewers.

I only kill them if they’re a threat to humanity… if I’m forced to… only because ANGEL tells me to… as long as there’s the smallest possibility that a demon can harm society, I have to kill it…

No.

I can’t do it anymore.

I can’t keep making excuses for what I do.

There was never such a rule.