The vampire kingdom was unlike anything Zarek had imagined. Crimson clouds draped the sky like an endless bruise, and ancient spires reached up like bone fingers piercing through the gloom. Magic-infused lanterns flickered with otherworldly light, casting violet glows over the paved obsidian roads. They walked among creatures who looked barely human—pale-skinned, graceful, eyes glinting with hunger beneath the civility.
Zarek tugged his collar tighter, whispering to the others, "I swear if one more of them sniffs in my direction, I'm going to start swinging."
Cassian, ever relaxed, smirked, "Come on. You're not exactly the most subtle scent in the world. You're like a walking adrenaline factory."
Kael didn't glance up from his data pad. "Technically, he's not wrong. Your elevated stress levels spike your scent. Vampires can smell that."
"Thanks for the reminder," Zarek muttered.
They passed through the main marketplace, where blood in various forms was sold from crystal vials, enchanted flasks, and pulsating containers. Kael stopped briefly to observe a stall selling magic-infused blood pearls—synthetic, enchanted globules that mimicked the taste and texture of human blood.
"Fascinating," Kael murmured.
Jaxon looked at a rack of skinned rodents and turned away quickly, gagging. "Okay, I take it back. I'd rather starve than eat that."
Malrik walked ahead with practiced confidence, his hood drawn low. He turned slightly. "You will, if you don't start thinking like survivors. Nothing here is for you. Nothing here wants you. We hunt outside the city tonight. Regular game."
Zarek grunted. "So we're basically camping in Hell. Great."
Later, under the deep red shadows of a blackwood grove outside the main city walls, the group gathered around a weak fire. Cassian returned first, dragging a pair of wild hares slung over his shoulder.
"Dinner is served. Or something like it," he said, dropping them down.
Jaxon looked unimpressed. "Any chance we could roast these with garlic?"
Malrik chuckled. "Only if you want to explode the noses of every vampire in a mile radius. Garlic's not lethal, but it's... unpleasant."
Kael, multitasking while eating, was staring into his wrist-mounted display. "One of my nanobots just latched onto a knight who came through the Eastern Corridor. He's moving toward the palace."
Zarek blinked. "Wait—you planted a bot already?"
"Days ago," Kael replied without looking up. "Didn't seem important to mention until it bore fruit."
Cassian whistled. "Damn, cold."
Kael adjusted the interface, and suddenly, a faint projection appeared above the ground—fuzzy, jittering but clear enough. They all leaned in.
Through the knight's eyes, they saw him marching through dark stone halls, past torch-lined corridors and surveillance orbs humming with necromantic sensors. Then, a heavy iron door opened with a groan.
The vision darkened as the knight entered the prison level.
What they saw next stole the breath from everyone.
Chains. Blood. A body hunched and unmoving.
Kenneth.
His hair had grown wild and matted. His back bore whip marks that still bled through gauze. His once-proud form was skeletal, skin clinging tightly to muscle and bone. He didn't move as the knight dropped a tray of something unidentifiable into the cell.
Kael paused the feed.
Zarek stood. "What the hell is that?! That's Kenneth?!"
Cassian's voice cracked slightly, his usual calm evaporating. "They've been starving him. Torturing him. That's not just imprisonment—that's erasure."
Jaxon had his head in his hands. "They're trying to break him. Literally."
Only Kael remained still. "Now you understand why we can't waste time. We need to move before they use him. Or before he snaps."
Malrik's voice was like iron against stone. "He's holding on longer than most ever could. But not forever."
Zarek looked at Malrik, his fists clenched. "How much longer do we have?"
Malrik stood, pulling his cloak around him. "My contact gave me something useful. An abandoned manor in the far northern quarter of the kingdom. Forgotten. Hidden. We relocate tonight. From there, we plan the extraction."
They broke camp quickly, stuffing what little they had into their packs. The moon in the vampire kingdom was not white or silver—it was a dark, hungry red, like an eye that never blinked.
As they walked, Kael continued to track the knight, logging patterns, routes, and vulnerabilities. Jaxon and Cassian both remained mostly quiet, internalizing the image of their broken friend.
Zarek stayed close to Malrik, whispering, "You think he still knows us? Still remembers?"
Malrik didn't answer immediately.
Then: "Kenneth is like the old steel forged in the Elder Ages. You can bury it, you can rust it, but you can't destroy it. The mind may bend—but the will? His will burns."
It took them hours to reach the edge of the northern district. It was colder here, quieter, where less magic pulsed and fewer vampires dared to live. Ancient statues of long-forgotten monarchs lined the gates of the manor Malrik's friend had provided. Vines grew wild over cracked stone. The place had the air of sorrow and secrecy.
Malrik unlocked the gate with an old sigil and led them inside. The manor's bones were still intact—dusty, cobwebbed, but safe.
"No one will think to look here," he said. "The noble who owned this betrayed the crown years ago. It's been erased from records."
Kael was already setting up his devices in a corner of the main hall. "I'll monitor everything from here. This is our eye."
Cassian found a seat on the window sill, staring out at the darkness. "We need a real plan. Just walking in there is suicide."
"Agreed," said Jaxon. "How do we even reach him?"
Malrik turned to them, shadows dancing on his face. "The twelve sons are all distracted with war planning. They believe Kenneth will be used in six months—but that gives us a window. In three nights, the Blood Eclipse will occur. During the eclipse, the dungeon guards rotate—and it's the only night all major vampire houses are required to send representatives to the Council Chamber."
Zarek nodded. "So we sneak in then. And get him out."
Kael, still expressionless, added, "We'll only get one shot. We blow the entrance or make too much noise, and the entire kingdom comes for us."
Cassian leaned forward. "Then we make it count."
And far away in the deepest corner of the dungeon, Kenneth stirred.
His eyes opened halfway. The drug haze dulled his mind, but a flicker of clarity sparked in the storm.
Malrik.
The name whispered through his soul like a fragment of a lost dream.
He didn't know what it meant, didn't know why the name mattered but he kept remembering the name .
Somewhere beyond the stone walls, someone was coming.