It was dark with flashes of light where the vampire hunter's sun shield was being held by a man holding both hands above his head, projecting energia into the magic. Two other magic casters were down on the ground, unconscious from the mana depletion and strain of holding it. Tad looked at Jack as three of the armored men near the center of the group turned and brought their shields up as Jack stepped forward, pushing energia into his unicorn defenses and glowing brightly in the night. There was little doubt he was a unicorn. The three men confronting him moved backward a moment as Tad stepped through.

The taller man on the end with the horse red hair symbol of leadership on his helmet shouted, "Who are you? Come no closer!"

Tad took a deep breath and yelled back over the racket of the fighting around the edges of the shield. The shield stopped just over the heads of the knights fighting on the permitter. "We are here to help. There are several more following me, do not attack them. " Tad saw the soldier's shoulders shift a bit as they all looked again at Jack, and one of the helmeted men nodded to the speaker. Tad thought it was going to work out right up until Synethaes stepped through the portal. Then all hell broke loose. Jack had walked over and touched the man holding the shield up, and Tad noticed mana flowing into the caster.

The taller armored man shouted and waved at the mistress vampire, "Thralls!"

Tad didn't know what that meant, but he knew a man about to charge when he saw one, "No, wait! She is with me. She is bound to help me. Don't!" Tad had a brief vision of having to kill the vampire hunters when a great bellow came from the gate. A screeching roar that made every nerve in Tad's body stand on end.

Tad held his hand up towards the man, "Wait, we are here to help! " Tad looked around a second then shouted over his shoulder, " Zanna, heal and cover. Lamuril, get those things off those roofs. Nico, Kill stuff. Synethaes stay here unless needed. Do not move."

Tad turned and started towards the gate in the direction of the roar. He needed to show the vampire hunters he was on their side and fast. Fifty yards away, Tad saw dozens of vampires pouring out of that inner gate. They looked like giant multi-fanged hairless bats without wings loping towards the several heavily armored men on that side. Behind those was the largest vampire he could have imagined. It stood twice his height and had claws longer than his forearm and fangs that would give a dragon nightmares. It moved fast as it trampled and scattered the smaller human-sized vampires in front of it sweeping them aside like gnats.

The taller man in armor shouted, "Varghoul!" Then he turned and pointed his sword up the ramping incline where it was charging from the gate. "Do not let it hit the shield are we are all doomed. " The knight charged forward out from under protective sun shield just ahead of Tad, as his sword blazed white in the night. The commander must have decided the varghoul was a bigger threat than Tad's party. He carved and hacked at the vampires with his glowing sword, intent on reaching the lumbering creature before it could destroy the shield protecting his company.

Tad stopped and looked at Synethaes. She spoke loudly, "It's an ogre vampire, you need to stop it if you intend to hold this road. "

Tad shook his head and frowned, he was half tempted to ask for her help but then decided against it. He followed the vampire hunter's knight commander into the foray.

"Would you like to smite this creature of darkness? " projected Galadinidú as Tad brought it around, slicing a vampire almost in two with the blazing blade of energia on the end of his staff.

Tad extended his soulmancy place over the battle as the movements slowed. Even with this, the vampires were fast. He cast more shields to protect himself as he worked on following the commander. He didn't like the way this was going almost from the start. He called for a smite on an uppercut and watched as his staff bisected a vampire as its two halves flew past him on either side, soaking him in the ichor of its rancid-smelling blood.

The unnamed knight was still ahead of him as one of his lieutenants went down next to him to a vampire. The creature had slashed across the man's chest ripping his chest plate off and leaving a deep, ragged rent across the underpadding and his chest and stomach. The creature screamed at this and swung again at the falling knight. Tad stepped forward, his blade of energia coming down across the Vampire, barely missing the falling soldier. The Vampire's arm and shoulder separated from its body as Tad brought the staff back around through its clawed hand and skull as it reached for him with its remaining arm. Tad wasn't certain he was killing any of these vampires permanently, but he didn't think they would be able to attack for a while without blood to heal them as Synethaes and Aea had needed.

Tad kept moving forward. The giant vargoul ran towards the knight's commander as Tad watched the odd bristles on the knight's helmet flapped back and forth with his movements.

The other vampires scattered out of its way as the varghoul showed no regard for its undead brethren. The knight brought his shield up, sword swinging in an arc towards the giant creature when the large monster bounded up over him and continued to charge towards the men behind, in a dash to attack the shield and the casters inside.

Tad turned, ignoring the other vampires attacking the knights near him. He looked at the varghoul and started casting. One spell then, he cast it again. Both ice patch spells through Galadinidú, and the staff empowered spells of ice spread out in front of the bounding creature. Thicker and wider than would usually appear, the creature's feet hit the ice, and as they slid, the claws of the varghoul's feet tried to dig into the ice, but the weight of the creature and its already lost balance caused its feet to slip behind it as it tried to spring forward for an awkward looking belly flop as it continued to slide head first towards the line of armored men standing at the edge of the shield. The varghoul screamed in rage.

Tad took a few more steps and leaped forward to slide on his left knee, and his right leg extended ahead with his staff pointed forward. He brought the life mana magic blade at the end in line as he slammed into the back leg of the creature. Tad jammed the staff into its thigh, then tore up upward, calling for another smite while trying to avoid the flailing clawed feet. He was struck and propelled away from the creature, pushing off with his right foot. The staff nearly tore the whole leg off the varghoul. The gaping wound glowed where the life mana infusing the blade burned the tissue deep through its lower thigh muscles and the back of its knee. The bone was clearly visible.

Tad slid backward away as the creature tried to stand on the patch of ice and flailed as only one leg worked. A glowing arrow appeared near its face as the armored men along the protective edge of magic swung at the giant monster, chopping downward over and over.

Nico slammed into the ground nearby, riding a winged vampire into the ground. He was in his giant lynx form, and his claws shined with magical energy. Magic claws? Tad told himself to ask Nico about that as he slid off the ice and into the rough gravel along the roadway. He rolled backward to his feet, bringing his staff around the edge of a soulmancy shield he had to place above him to deflect an incoming attack of another winged vampire that had jumped off the wall and tried to fall directly onto him from the night sky.

He spoke a word moving his one hand, then regripped the haft of his staff, pointing it directly into the face of the rising Vampire. A jet of flame shot from the end, burning and sizzling as it carved a deep groove of charred flesh and burned jaws of the creature. It frantically tried to back away from the flames of Tad's flame nozzle spell.

Tad pushed more energia into the spell extending the flame farther out, focusing on keeping the jet concentrated, panning it across the flesh of the creature until it fled into the night, much of its vampire skull a charred ruin. Tad turned back to the varghoul to see the armored men working the creature who couldn't stand, lopping off any parts that came close to them as it flailed about. An injured man looked stunned, and his armor had a large tear along his side. Zanna was pulling him back under the sun shield. Tad turned toward the vampire hunter's leader. He and his two men who were up the hill towards the gate. Several vampires were attacking from multiple directions. The one man was still down and bleeding heavily from his chest wound.

Tad moved forward with the flame jet working it across all that came near him as he walked forward. One Vampire had tried to swoop in and slash him, and it crashed into the rocky stone of the roadway as the membranes of its wings were set ablaze by the concentrated stream of fire from Tad's staff. The fire wasn't killing the vampires, but the damage almost immediately stopped their ability to attack, and most fled or were reduced to mewing piles of bone and scorched tissue. Tad was certain this spell was more powerful than before. He could feel the range reached farther, and his ability to thicken the stream of flame was more impressive.

Tad saw a flash of light as another arrow shot by Lamruil went up towards the vampires perching on the curtain wall's upper bastions near the gate. The arrows were not glowing with the bow's power, but the tips appeared to drip life mana. Tad chanced a look back to see Lamruil standing next to the queen bee's container. Nico had dropped it where they had entered, and Lamruil was dipping arrows into it one and a time and shooting them into the night. Tad looked at the vampire that an arrow had struck, and he could see the life mana from the bee venom and royal honey burning a hole around the shaft. Tad worked his flames across the fallen Vampire, hastening its end.

Tad heard a boom and looked up to see a ball of chaotic fire explode across several more vampires as they were climbing up the stone wall to leap off at the shield and men below. This fire, unlike Tad's, continued to burn any flesh it touched. Even rocks on the stone wall appeared to take some damage and started to glow from the heat. Tad had learned from experience that chaos fire was different than his magical fire. Chaos fire burned everything and melted stones. He didn't think water would put it out even if the vampires had some to jump into. This magic fire burned till the chaos mana empowering it expended itself. He briefly thought about how it had burned his face and scalp when the void creature had touched him with it a few days earlier. Tad was fairly sure chaos fire could permanently kill a vampire if enough mana was applied.

Several minutes later, the remaining vampires melted back into the night. They just broke off and retreated almost as one. The vampire hunters, who all appeared to have swords that did heavy damage to the Vampire, were walking around poking any wounder or burning undead. The magic of these swords appeared to destroy them as the vampires quit moving after the vampire hunters impaled them.

Zanna appeared a moment later next to Tad as she bent over the fallen man who had charged the varghoul. Very little blood now seeped from his chest as he lay dying. Her hands glowed as she placed them against the man casting healing into him. Her tail was plain to see while she bent down to heal the man. The leader of the vampire hunters watched her as she healed his soldier. Tad couldn't see his face behind the grill of his helmet, but it wasn't hard to see he was watching her with suspicion. The man radiated suspicion and malice. Then the helmed man turned to Tad.

A gruff voice filled with exhaustion sounded from the helm, "You will explain who you are and where you came from immediately. " There were a few shouts behind. He turned back to his men, where several were now standing around Synethaes with blades drawn. They must have some way to see vampires because she hadn't done anything that was overtly obvious to give them cause to think she was a vampire.

"You will also explain why you have that creature with you. " The man turned and started walking back to his company of vampire hunters signaling two of them, "Retrieve Danylko and bring him under the protection of the Sun Shield spell. " He then pointed back to the man Zanna was still pouring life energia into as he healed, who must have been Danylko.

He turned back to Tad and took off his helmet. The face underneath was heavily scarred, with old rugged slash scars running from mouth to ear. The man's skin was darkly tanned with a green tint. He had black hair, bushy black eyebrows, and a tightly trimmed beard on the healthy part of his face. The man wasn't human, not with the greenish appearance. Tad didn't think he was an orc either.

"I am Count Yohan, leader of this expedition. We are vampire hunters, and our company is known as the Vampire's Demise," said Yohan standing there waiting for a response from Tad. He must have thought Tad should know about this group of vampire hunters by name.

Tad nodded, "Greetings and well met. I am Thaddius Rockgrip. We are here to get some answers. " Tad motioned to Jack, who was still standing in the middle of the shield pouring mana into the caster. The man was now standing tall, holding the shield above them in place. "We are here on a quest to cure a member of my realm from a curse of vampirism. We are from across the ocean." Tad didn't have a name yet for his burgeoning village and didn't want to let this person know there in some fabled valley of statues out there. All types of crazy treasure-hunting armies might show up, and he wasn't ready to deal with that.

Yohan turned to Zanna, "I see she is a half-fiend, although an unusual one, and I see her value, but why do you have this creature. You can not trust one like her. She will murder you in your sleep or even while you are awake." He turned back to Synethaes, glaring at her.

Synethaes, for her credit, just stood there acting likes she didn't understand him. "She is with me as a guide to find our answers. We intend to find a cure. She is bound to me by a promise that she can not break. If you could have your men turn their swords away from her, she will not bother them. "

Yohan looked at her, then at Tad. Synethaes still hadn't moved from the spot Tad had told her to wait. She looked like a young and innocent woman right now. Yohan wasn't falling for that, the man was in his late forties, and Tad was certain he knew exactly what he was looking at and what Synethaes was.

"You three, go back to the line. " he turned back to Tad. "You came at a very fortunate time. If I had not seen what you did, I would already have you all burned at the stake right here as thralls. Unicorn or no unicorn, " he said that and looked back and Jack, who had stopped and was turning to come over to where Tad stood.

Tad nodded, "I was commanded to help you once we saw your need by my Goddess. She seemed to believe it was the right thing to do. I agreed with this sentiment, and we came to your aid. "

Yohan looked shocked then, more so than seeing his friend appear out of the night to aid him, "You can't speak truth. The gods have fled this land. There are no gods left on Shofa. They disappeared when the dark elves and their evil invaded these lands. Where is this place you come from?"

Tad thought about this as Zanna and Nico made their way to where he was standing. Lamruil was nearby, watching, his bow still in hand. Tad could sense the astonishment in this soldier named Yohan.

"It's far across the water. Yohan, do you have some form of support? A second group or army to help fight these creatures? " asked Tad changing the subject.

Yohan's face became serious, almost angry, then he sounded quieter, and Tad felt sadness. "We are the support. Half of those vampires were the remains of the previous expedition to clear this cursed city. I must return to my king and report our failure here. We do not have enough men to clear this city of these creatures. Something guides them. Feral vampires never organize. These laid a trap for us, waiting till we reached this gate before pouring from every building around us. They have never been known to do this. At best, they are raging fiends. Something guides their twisted thoughts here, and they move in groups with no fighting among themselves. "

Tad looked over at Synethaes, who fidgeted when Yohan mentioned the trap. "Synethaes, can you sense these creatures? "

She nodded in affirmative to Tad. "Will they attack you or harm you? " She nodded negatively, " then please go ahead and above us. We are going to get these men out of the city. Warn us if there is another group near. "

She nodded again and slowly walked out of the crowd of armored men who parted, letting her pass. She took several steps away from the men until she was out of reach of the shield and swords, then transformed into her gargoyle-looking form and flew off into the night.

Tad could feel the anger of the men around him and the hard look in Yohan's eyes.

"Count Yohan, I believe you would like to report to your king? Lead the way. We will help see you safely out of this city," said Tad as Jack came up next to him, softly glowing in the gloom of the night.

The count nodded and turned to one of his men, "Seargent form ranks. We are going to slow-walk out of this city and report back to the king. " He turned to the man who had been holding the sun shield above them, "Alex be ready in case we need that shield again. " The armored men formed a tight square around the caster, Tad's group, and the count.

"Move out!" commanded Yohan.

The group started down the road away from the inner gate at a slow pace. They would not break any speed records this way, but Tad saw the discipline of the men holding the formation. The two fallen casters were slung over the shoulders of others in a fireman carry as the large formation moved down the road towards the river.

"We must cross the bridge. It is a short distance to the outer gate from there to where we entered. A mile and half beyond that is our camp. We left our horses picketed there, " said Yohan as they marched towards the river. They were not exactly quiet with the constant rub of metal on metal and the occasional clang of armor. Nobody spoke as the men watched the night and shadows around them.

Tad knew there were problems ahead on the bridge before the company turned the corner, and it came into view. There on the bridge was a tall man holding the slumped and bloody form of a woman in a red velvet dress, Synethaes. Behind him, on the other side, was a mass of vampires. Several were perched on rooftops, and many more were standing in the street. They looked like feral vampires to him with their half-deformed faces. Tad was starting to understand how to tell the difference between vampire types, and he could sense this man. This large man on the bridge felt wrong, not as another human or even whatever Yohan was. Tad could feel the presence of another void creature.

***