Venus: “Ehh? Monty, I don’t understand why you even carry those guns, if you were just going to get Doroda and Fang to do it this way…”

Monty: “Hmmpf…. Venus, I never planned on using them in the first place!… These guns don't have any bullets in them!… I don't have the slightest idea how to even use a gun!”

Venus: “Oh… I see… So you carry them…only to make yourself seem more intimidating… Oh, Monty…. Huhuhuhu…”

Monty: “Oh! Be quiet, will you?!”

Some commotion is happening further at the back of the room with Monty and his crew, but I’m far too distracted by what’s happening to Green to even care about whatever it is they’re saying…

Green is being squeezed to death by that gigantic snake-vampire!

Green: “Ahhhgh!…. Please! You gotta…help…me!”

Luke: “Ah! There must be something we can do….”

Link: “Dammit! It's still too damn dark in here!”

Fern: “He’s right. I can barely see past an arm’s length in front of me…”

Justice walks up from behind me and tugs on my sleeve.

Justice: “Think of something, Luke! You’re the one who’s got torches for hands!…”

I jerk my head back and forth, meeting my eyes with those of my fellow VLAD trainees. They all gather around my flame sputtering hand and give me expectant looks… Somehow, since I’m the one with the fire ability, they’re all looking to me to get us out of this mess for some reason!…. They can’t expect me to know what to do!… I’m too unreliable!…

I move my flame dripping arm in front of my face as a barrier to keep my shame hidden from the others.

Luke: “He— Hey… Listen! I—”

They move in around me.

Then, Key steps in from my side and places a hand on my shoulder…

Key: “Wait. I have an idea…”

Link: “Okay. Speak. And say it fast… Green over there is starting to look….well pretty damn green…”

Key: “We need more light if we want to safely apprehend the snake transforming vampire… The most obvious solution would be to utilize Luke’s ability…”

He turns his face towards me.

Key: “That being said… We’re going to need to create a much bigger fire, if we want to light up this entire room… I can help with that…”

Key removes his hand from my shoulder. He brings his right hand up to show everyone as he makes his black, inky goo drip down his fingers…

Key: “My oil has flammable properties… If Luke and I can get it somewhere safely, Luke can light it on fire… Then, we’ll be able to see…”

Justice: “….Sure… That sounds fine and all…but how are you supposed to stop the whole theatre catching on fire?…”

Key: “Well… I can control the fluidity of my oil as long as I am still touching it… I think maybe I’ll be able to control the fire as well, once it spreads onto it…”

Justice: “You think you’ll be able to control it?!—”

Ginger: “It sounds like a good enough plan to me!... Green!... Green needs our help, you guys!”

Luke: “Alright… Well, where should we light the fire?”

Key tenses his facial muscles and raises his head to look around.

Key: “Up there… The light fixtures hanging from the ceiling… They’re high enough so that it shouldn’t catch anything else on fire…”

Key points up to the spot directly above the stage. There are metal bars and wires attached to the ceiling from which the stage light fixtures hang.

Key: “Along the wall somewhere there should be a ladder or something that we can climb up on…”

Luke: “Oh! Okay! Well, let’s go!”

Octavia: “You guys aren’t talking about me behind my back, are you? Ehehehaha!”

Out of quite literally nowhere, Octavia gushes out from the wooden boards beneath our feet. Her arms springing up wide and open, twisting to grab onto one of us.

Link: “Oh! Crap! Look out!”

Our tight group is quick to disperse like a handful of lost marbles, rolling into infinite random directions. I make a swift jump to evade Octavia’s grasp, but I cannot make out where the others have made it off to…

Key: “Luke… You aren’t hurt? Are you?”

I turn. Key managed to stay beside me.

Luke: “N— Nope!”

Key doesn’t waste another hectic second. He gives me the look to follow and heads for the wall to the right of the stage.

Once we find our way to the farthest end of the wall, Key blindly throws his arms out and starts feeling for a ladder or another way to climb up to the electrical corridor above us.

There is a sound of clanking metal.

Key: “Look here!… I found a ladder…”

Key climbs the ladder first and I do my best to keep up with him… Being half vampire might make me seem a whole lot cooler by comparison…but I’ll admit…I’m not the fondest of heights. Light or no light, it's extremely scary to be in this situation!

I have to kill my flame in order to climb the rungs of the ladder… In the complete darkness, I nearly miss a rung once or twice as I make my way up the ladder.

Up on the metal grate compartment that hangs above the centre of the stage, I relight the smouldering flame on my gloved hand. The flames lick and climb my fingers, as if they are melting candles.

With a sense of urgency, I follow Key along the rickety steel slabs that hold us in the air. On either side of us there is wiring and electrical circuits strung together like a ball of yarn. The lights on the circuits flicker and the quiet humming of electricity envelopes us.

We come to the furthest edge of the electrical corridor. I look down but all I see is black, apart from the faint ring of orange light coming from my makeshift torch.

I listen. I can't make out any voices. All I can hear is the distant sound of feet scuffling and pacing across the wooden floor below us. We’re still in trouble. Key and I better do this fast!

Key: “Alright. I’ll start laying my oil slick down over here…”

Key places both his hands along the bars of a metal barricade that surrounds the edge of the suspended electrical unit.

I am still as I stand behind him, waiting.

As Key moves to put our plan to work, we hear a voice shouting up to us from below, somewhere in the depths of the lower theatre.

Francis: “Yoohoo!…. Hey! You aren’t up to no good, are you?…”

It's Francis, one of the other delinquent vampires who came in with Monty. He’s the one who somehow caused all of the lights to go out in the entire building…

Francis: “You know….we aren’t going to let you get out of this so easy, right?…. In the end, we’re just going to have to….take you down right along with us!…”

The platform we stand on jolts and rocks to the side. I stumble back and to the left, and for a moment, my flame wavers out. I look up. All of the lights and monitors on the circuits begin to blink at an alarming rate, and a high pitched noise tears through my ears. The next thing I know, heat spreads in all directions and white hot sparks flutter into the air like a miniature fireworks display.

I can feel the intense heat of the electric shock, but the electricity does not surge through me. It must be my fire resistant gloves that John was smart enough to give me beforehand. Key however, he’s still holding onto the metal bars on the edge of the barricade!

For a fleeting moment, Key’s body is nothing but an illuminated silhouette, standing still like an electrified mannequin a few steps away from me. As every muscle within him contorts, Key rocks back on his heels. I think I can see smoke rising off the edges of his figure and burning away wisps of his hair.

Key makes an unconscious half step forward, and with little confidence in his mindless footing, Key bends over the barrier. Limp as he is, he falls over the edge, unmoving like dead weight.

On my hands and knees, I crawl over however, I am blinded. The black void that surrounds us turns as white as the sun in a matter of seconds. I move my arm across my eyes, blocking out the assault of light. That vampire, Francis, his ability must have something to do with controlling electricity…

Now with no need to carry a flame in my hand, I clamber over to the side of the platform and force myself to look down.

What I see is a bird’s eye view of something like a war scene. I look over closer to the middle of the backstage and see Green, still tightly bound within Fang’s serpent grasp. And over to the left and back into the corners, I see the rest of the trainees, scattered and with worried expressions. Justice is among them. I can almost see the sweat dripping down his face, together with the frightened looks.

Looking down, directly below me, I spot Key. He lays face down and flat on his stomach, as if he were imitating one of the lifeless floorboards beneath him.

Luke: “….Oh, crap!….”

I waste no time and make my way back over to the ladder on the other side of the platform. I have no issues climbing down, as Key is clearly in a bad way… How hurt can a vampire be from a fall like that?… I have no idea, but all I can do is get back to the others as fast as I can.

Once I get close enough to the floor, I push myself off of the ladder and sprint over to where Key lays in a face down and unmoving position. The brightness of the lights makes my surroundings appear as if everything is glowing, or like everything has a striking yet sickening, heavenly aura about it. The image is unsettling, especially seeing the other trainees in such disarray, scattered all over the place.

I bend over with my hands on my knees and peer over Key’s body, scanning for injuries in all places.

Ginger and Vanda run over. Vanda has managed to maintain the refined mannerisms of the upper class that she carries about her, but Ginger on the other hand… The fact that her hair is frizzing in all sorts of directions makes her look like a startled cat. Along with that, the visible sweat stains under her armpits and the gleaming creases along her brows and forehead tell of her mental state. I have come to learn that Ginger’s bodily reaction to crisis often causes more self-sabotage than it functions as a coping mechanism...

Luke: “Ginger! Vanda!… Key, he—!”

Ginger: “Key?! Key?! Oh, goodness! Key, are you alright?!… Can you hear us, Key?!…”

Key: “Hrrngh…”

Key groans and attempts to roll over, but is unsuccessful at moving himself onto his back.

Ginger: “Oh, no! What if that groan was the sound of his last breath fleeing his weak, injured lungs?!…”

Vanda: “…Eh!… Calm down, Ginger… I'm quite sure Key isn’t dying…”

Ginger claps both her hands onto her cheeks while Vanda offers to soothe her with a sympathetic hand on Ginger’s back.

Key: “…Gaagh…. No!…. I’m…not dying…. Thankfully—”

Key strains himself to move his weight onto his arms and elbows. He eventually manages to prop himself up and resituate himself into a sitting position.

Key: “…. Thankfully, us vampires are immortal, remember?…. In this situation… Hrrnghh…. I’ll…probably just have some broken bones…. In fact, I can feel some pain in my side…. However, as a vampire…I expect…to make a swift recovery…”

Both Ginger and Vanda kneel down and each take hold of one of Key’s arms.

Ginger: “…There, there, Key!…. You’ll be alright!…”

Vanda: “Yes…. Ginger is correct… Don’t worry… We’ll figure something out…”

Both girls’ eyes pool with tears, as they look at Key with wide and worry filled gazes. They cling to Key, providing him with genuine care within their words…. For a fleeting moment, I wish it was rather me who fell from the electrical corridor attached to the ceiling….

Key: “Luke!… Luke, are you listening?!…”

Luke: “…Ahh!… Yes!”

Key: “Luke, how’s Green?!…. You…and the others… You need to save him—”

Luke: “Don’t worry, Key… We’re on it!”

I say this to Key with the most sincerity I am able to give….and I mean what I say! I set myself to action. I depart myself from Key and the girls while I search for the others…

Fang, the serpent vampire, still holds onto the nearly lifeless Green, tugging at Green’s helpless body with every pulsating muscle of his snake anatomy.

Justice and the rest of the trainees are huddled along the opposite wall of the room, while Monty’s gang of vampiric criminals disperse and make themselves semi-hidden among the random storage within the backstage of the theatre.

I maneuver over to where the others maintain themselves, all while I do my best to be cautious of my surroundings. I have no idea who’s waiting to pounce on me… If anything, I’ve learned about the true unpredictable nature of this kind of situation…

Justice: “Luke!… Luke, what the heck is going on! Key—”

Luke: “He fell… Look, our plan didn’t exactly work out…. That vampire, Francis—”

Link: “Okay, we get it!… Key, took a fall….but he’ll pull through… We need to figure out how to stop that crazy snake guy from killing Green!…. We’re running out of damn time here!…”

Luke: “I know! I know…. Well, you got any ideas?!…”

Fern: “Are you serious right now?! You’re just going to give up and make us figure out what to do without your help?….”

Luke: “Ahh…. Well, actually….”

Justice: “It doesn’t matter! We need to hurry up! I don’t want to have someone die on us here!….”

Link: “Wait! Hold on! Stop yelling for a second!”

Justice: “Hey—”

Link: “Hmmmnnn…..”

Link puts his hands to his temples and squeezes his eyes shut.

Link: “…. I just had…the most insane idea….but I think it might work…”