As they flew Angel started saying the prayer Ana had heard her say before, but instead of fixing her wound it only increased the pain she was feeling by tenfold. The sudden rush of pain dropped her concentration of the spell and they started flying on momentum only, like a cannonball and close to the speed of one.

But that also broke Angel's prayer and subsided the pain, letting Ana regain control over their flying kettle. Lia asked her a funny question about how a witch was supposed to fly on a broom and not in her kettle, which was enough to distract Ana from the pain.

In the rushing wind, she couldn’t hear Angel all that well, and for some reason, her ears were ringing. But the village was in sight and soon they landed and Ana waved Angel away to help the others as she sat down. The pain was subsiding but her lightheadedness was only increasing, and right before blacking out, she heard Lia say: Oh shit.

Her consciousness came back in one of the houses, covered with several blankets which reminded her of the first day she woke up in this world. Oh thank god you’re up. A familiar voice echoed in her mind.

“What I miss?” She asked back, actually speaking instead of using her thoughts.

Nothing much, they put you here, tried to heal you again but after seeing it was only causing you pain they covered you up and went to treat the other wounded. That was several hours ago, Angel comes by every now and then to check up on you.

“Well, isn’t that nice?” She felt calm and at peace, without a worry in the world.

Sure it’s nice but it ain’t gonna help us, cause kid. We are in big trouble.

“What's new there? Everything has been troubled since I came to this world, why expect anything different?”

I’m going to pretend you didn’t just call me trouble as you are clearly delirious. But listen carefully, you have been poisoned by some strange magic and it ain’t mixing up well with the other poisons you have in there. We need to do something and you're the one with the magic so this is your territory.

“I heard about this from Nathaniel. I wonder what he and Borka are doing right now, I miss them.”

I know what they told you, but is there something you can do?! The normally calm voice was now practically screaming at her.

Ana shrugged. “Perhaps. But our best bet is to neutralize the poison, which in this case is impossible. I mean, where do I find penicillin here? If penicillin would even work.”

I don’t know what that is, come on girl, focus!

“Alright, don’t scream at me. If I can’t artificially neutralize it, then it's best to help our body fight it by itself.”

But it’s killing us! If we could fight it off that would be great, but I doubt that is possible.

“It is. We need Angel. Oh and prepare, it will hurt a lot.”

It’s not me I’m worried about.

“Oh, you should be, as you need to keep control while Angel cures us. I’ll probably be out of my mind with pain so you need to keep the magic in check.”

Need I tell you that I failed to do that before?

“You’ll be fine, this time I can prepare for it.” Shaking her head and missing coffee she got to work locking the metaphorical circles that allowed her to use magic. It meant she won’t be using magic until the spell wore off, which would last at least a day. It was a heavier version of the spell she had used before going to sleep to keep her magic in check. While she didn’t have a physical circle, Lia could keep her metaphorical one active.

She called Angel and Ghost inside, explaining that if she didn’t cure her she would most likely die or turn into a shambling monster like the villagers were. It took some convincing that she needed to be held down as the pain would most likely be too intense for her to sit still.

Hammer and Mane stepped up as they were the strongest in the group, but because of the small house, they went outside. Too weak to even stand they had to carry Ana.

They laid her down in some grass as Hammer took her arms and Mane took her legs, but the pair didn’t use much force and Ana had to remind them that they needed to hold her down at all costs. Broken bones were better than death after all.

Taking a few rapid breaths she nodded to Angel who had a worried look on her face. But she knew the girl too well to doubt she would carry on until the end. Then she started her prayer, and Ana’s world went white as a bestial scream left her throat.

Everything went white, even her memories and perception of time. This resembled her time in the entropic dimension, while her body was saved by Lia at that time, this time it was up to Angel. She was constantly being rescued, not that she was helpless on a given day but it seemed like a given that trouble would find her and someone would be there to save her.

That bothered her more than she thought it would. There were several times when she saved herself, and having your friends help you was normal and expected. But still, the feeling of not having control over her own life was there.

In the white vastness, her mind floated, processing thoughts and memories like they were dreams. Nathaniel had taught her about blood magic and who practiced it. He did say that it was similar to divine magic as it couldn’t be learned but only acquired. She remembered thinking that it was funny that it was called blood magic as it wasn’t magic that controlled blood, but the blood that fueled the magic. And then she realized what had attacked her.

In the empty space where the pain she felt was but a distant howl, she couldn’t help but cringe. The one thing she hated with a passion in modern cinema, the legend that grew in an area where she was born, a goddamn vampire. And a day walking one at that.

She remembered the first time she cringed as Nathaniel was telling her about those creatures. Out of so many creatures and monsters out there, why did it have to be a vampire? And now she was infected.

Thankfully she killed the bastard before he could drain and turn her, but she killed him while he was using blood magic on her. His death being fast meant she absorbed all the magic he left floating around. And with her luck, she knew Angel wouldn’t get all of it out.

She spat and cursed as the distant howl grew closer and closer. Soon she felt it again, the bones in her arms and legs breaking as she trashed, the skin of her cheeks tearing, her ears bleeding, and her throat only wheezing, but the pain was starting to lessen.

Finally, back in control, she relaxed as the pain was leaving her. She felt the pressure on her arms and legs lessen, Angel's prayer healing her self-inflicted injuries and taking Ana into her arms. Closing her mouth brought both a strange and a familiar feeling to her, as her canines grew a few more millimeters, just enough that she had to get used to the feeling yet again. Ignoring the side effect of blood magic poisoning she hugged Angel back.

It was nice to be held after all that. With every passing second, she got more of her control back, and then she finally noticed tears running down Angel's face. She comforted her lover, confirming with Lia down in engineering if all the plumbing was operational. When she got an affirmative she kissed Angel, happy to be alive and able to do so.

It was a surprise to hear that it took over half an hour to get everything out of her, and her opinion of Angel rose quite a bit. She knew the girl could do it, but still standing and hurting someone for half an hour even though you know you’re saving their life, certainly wasn’t easy. Ana was thankful for the first experience with mind-shattering pain, as she doubted she could have lived through this without it.

Feeling alive was a cause for celebration, which would happen on some other day as there were dead friends to bury.

In the group who fought the ghouls, as she learned what they were called, two companions perished. As Nimble tells it Pops was targeted because as a paladin of the divine she was an anathema to the ghouls, and the vampire killed him without considering anything else. Nimble was spared as he suspected that the creature was saving him for later.

In the battle after that Dice died when Ana killed the vampire and the ghouls went into a frenzy. She wanted to blame herself for that but since it wasn’t even her choice to kill the creature the guilt didn’t linger.

They covered their comrades in cloth and placed them on one of the carts. They were nearing the end of the round and would be passing the city in any case within a day or two. There were several injuries, Pup who got the worst was able to make it after Ana brought Angel so fast. Silver lining and all.

They rounded all the carcasses in a large Ana-supplied pit, burned, and buried them. It was more for the sake of the land to burn out the corruption than the bodies as she didn’t know what culture each individual had. But in death, it rarely mattered.

Not wanting to stick around in the village during the night they headed back to the fort, where rest and recuperation took hold. The news that two of your brothers in arms died was received as well as could be expected. Most everyone was relieved that the death count wasn’t larger, and if Ana hadn’t killed the bloodsucker when she did, it was doubtful many of them would have survived.

But what a vampire was doing there nobody knew, as there wasn’t a vampire seen this far south in so long many people forgot about them. It was definitely strange and it required more research, but that was for someone else to handle. That night she mourned her two friends with Angel. The whole group was struggling to find rest after such a day.

Many of them huddled together around the fire and told tales of how Dice couldn’t win a game to save his life and how he got the name. Pops was one of the originals, serving with Ghost when the two were just starting out. Ghost was clearly grieving for a friend but had remained stoic, giving the aura of assurance and command, which Ana found inspiring.

The night passed with hardly anyone getting any sleep, after which they cleared their camp and started the journey home. Ana being with them meant that they had cut their time almost in half for a trip. They still had to go east of the city to visit a few more places but the main part of their trek was over, and the chances of encountering monsters were small.

That didn’t mean a lapse in discipline, quite the opposite in fact. The death of their friend kept the whole group on alert, which came in quite in handy when their sharpened perception noticed two dead bodies off the side of the road.

The bodies were dead for a few days, and a closer examination showed that they were vampires as well. Their armor was pristine and sturdy, their swords ornate and beautifully crafted out of a silvery-grey metal that was to Ana’s surprise magnetic, and a lot more than iron was. The swords even had roses as pommels.

They collected those bodies as well, and searching them they found some documents written in a strange language no one knew how to read. Leaving the mystery for when they reached home, they continued the journey arriving at the gates of the city around noon two days after finding the bodies.

The guards were surprised to see them back so early, but looking at the extra cart and the grim faces they didn’t ask many questions and allowed the Ghost war band into the city. It was good to be back, more than a month since she left, a small amount of time from a different perspective but an eternity for Ana. Before entering the city, everyone had put on the cloak that they were assigned. Bright red cloth with golden edges, and the emblem of the kingdom on the back. It was an expensive piece of cloth so it was only used while they were in the public like now.

Having arrived at a different gate they had to travel through the city, and as Ana learned they did that on purpose to parade their victory throughout the city. Not that anyone in the group felt like cheering and celebrating, but it was a standing order. Hide the failures and show the victories, propaganda at its best.

They smiled and waved as they passed, people cheered and gawked at the large beak and feathers of the slain beast. Unbeknownst to Ana the tale of slaying the bird would spread, embellished to the point of it being ridiculous, by a certain bard she knew.

News spread quickly about the band’s return, and by the time they got to their assigned barracks, their rooms were cleared and ready with food already being prepared. The carts were parked outside with guards stepping in to protect the loot from anyone thinking about grabbing themselves a piece. Thankfully Ana had spare clothing so she didn’t have to walk covered in a cloak, but on the other hand, she was barefoot.

She picked the worst day to wear her boots thinking since she would be in a battle the steel toe boots could aid if there was any amount of kicking. Thankfully her lab coat was left behind as she didn’t want to sully it with even more blood.

Ghost left them at the barracks, leaving to report to his superior officers while the rest of the group got together and was planning to leave to get drinks. As they were getting ready, switching clothes, and taking baths Ana heard her name being called out for the first time this month, and after all that trouble getting used to Silver and Rose.

Looking at the main entrance she saw a figure that she missed terribly. She ran and jumped giving the big bear of a woman a huge hug. Nathaniel was off to the side and Ana failed to notice him at first but now he got the same hug Borka did.

This was the first time since coming that she was away from them for this long. She wanted to check with them and to tell them of her experiences but the group was going to a bar to properly celebrate the passing of the comrades. She explained that and that she would come to visit them tomorrow, to which they didn’t protest as both of them were in her position once.

Taking a bath after so long felt amazing, as the stream where they replenished their water wasn’t large enough to take a bath in, and Ana’s control over water and fire manipulation not being that good meant no hot showers. Wanting to save water Angel had joined her in the large tub. In a world where different races varied in size by a large margin, the tubs were usually extra big. That wasn’t good for cutting down the water bill but was amazing for sharing a bath.

A few hours after everyone was ready and had eaten, even Jic and Zic took baths but by the look of them, quite unwillingly so, they gathered in the courtyard of the barracks. She felt proud to see both Cookie and Crow there, even if not a fighting part of the group they were still friends with Pops and Dice, and the loss had hit them hard too.

With such a large group they had to find a place where they could all fit, or so Ana was thinking but the group was heading towards a place and she figured they knew a spot as it wasn’t their first trip.

She found herself in a walled-off garden where several other army personnel wearing the same cloaks as them were sitting, with several large empty tables. Everyone got a seat, saying hello to the other patrons as a really tall and busty woman arrived placing a hand on Hammers shoulder and greeting them.

The big coot did make a good pick as even Ana was stunned by how handsome his wife was. She got everyone a tankard and several barrels of spirits, and after taking a silent moment for the fallen brothers they cheered and drank.

Several people got way too drunk and it was funny for Ana to be in the position of watching other people make fools of themselves while under the influence of alcohol. That night she slept with Angel again, neither of them talked about the future or what the other wanted like in a relationship, they were just there for each other.

In the morning she asked her if she wanted to join her to visit Nathaniel and Borka, more out of courtesy than out of genuine desire to bring her. But the girl waved her off, wanting to sleep over her hangover.

So Ana got dressed, feeling bad that the armor and the weapons Nathaniel had bought were gone, but happy to tell them about her experience in hunting monsters, camping, flying, fighting vampires, and all the rest. She also had many questions as they didn’t go deep into the culture that surrounded the bloodsuckers, and while she cringed when even thinking about them, she needed to learn as much as possible in case more of the bastards showed up.