You Can't Go Home Again

 The best thing would have been to go right to the castle as they reached Nightshade again. But three members out of the quintet had been extremely hungry since their trek through the wastelands. Since Talia’s title would enable them to get free food and Amaia wasn’t delusional enough to try and tackle the Niles problem on their own, all five of them headed for one of the local restaurants.

This one was more of a local fast food place than the first one Millie had tried while there. They needed food, of course, but they also didn’t really have the time for a nicer place. The plan would be to order it to go, eat along the way to Talia’s home.

Millie, Nibbles, and Sara had all placed their orders, and Talia stepped up to “pay”, so to speak. She flashed the jewel on her diadem, fully expecting that to do the trick as it had so often before. But this time, something curious happened.

“I’m gonna need some actual money,” the demon behind the counter said, checking her talons.

“Um..I’m sorry, but I’m in charge of this realm?” the vampire replied, giving a tight smile.

“Someone else took charge of the area yesterday.”

The vampire tilted her head in confusion. “...Who was it?” she asked.

“Another vampire chick. Spiky dark hair.”

A deep sigh. “Oh, for the love of...I trusted her to keep an eye on things while I was away, not to take over wholesale!”

“Yeah, yeah, that really sucks,” the demon said, barely showing any real emotion. “Still gonna need that cash, though.”

Amaia pulled their wallet from their back pocket, pulling out a few bills and slapping them onto the counter. It struck Millie that this was her first time in the last week and a half to two weeks actually seeing any of this world’s currency.

Once their meals were brought out to them, the group started making their way to another part of town. Amaia had wanted to check in on their hardware store, wanting to make sure nobody’d broken in at any point. Along the way, Millie walked alongside them, eating the burger she’d gotten. She’d never had raven meat before, but the whole past couple weeks had been one new experience after another, and she highly doubted that after the whole “death” thing, any new experience could have been especially surprising to her.

She glanced over at the dullahan, offering them some of her fries. It wasn’t like Amaia strictly needed the food...but they appreciated the offer and put their head on their neck for now. They took a few of those, walking along.

Nibbles had the most expensive order of the group, but to be fair, she’d wanted to try a little of everything. There were a couple of raven burgers, nuggets of hell-hog, and a mess of fries in her bag. She may have also devoured the bag itself.

Sara, being the resident vegetarian (so to speak), had gotten a triple burger made with a raven’s meat substitute (comprised of flies).

On the way to the hardware store, Talia made a quick stop at the blood bank to make a withdrawal. Thankfully, money wasn’t really needed for her, there. Any vampire could show up for a drink if needed, and she was in need.

The hardware store was, thankfully, untouched since they’d left, a fact that Amaia definitely appreciated. And so, with everyone fed and the hardware store clear, they headed for their ultimate destination: the castle.

Hopefully, Niles hadn’t shown up yet. A case of Talia’s cousin going a bit power mad, she could handle. All that usually meant was another eventful chapter in the family history. But if their target was there, he could have summoned anything he wanted.

As they approached the castle’s grounds, Talia was noticeably nervous.

“You good?” Millie asked her.

“Just a bit unnerved, dear,” she replied. “There is a possibility that we’ll be treated as strangers when we get there, or as criminals, or...I’m not sure who’ll be on the throne in there, to be honest.”

That wasn’t entirely promising, but it was what it was. They’d deal with whatever awaited them as they got there. But Talia would walk in first, just in case it was her cousin on a power trip they’d have to deal with.

As predicted, they were met with halberds as they approached. But what threw them off was the voice that called for them to be let in.

“Bring them to me!” the voice shrieked.

But noticeably, the voice had an electronic quality. Like so many of the Soul Stealers they’d encountered. One of the guards reached for Talia’s blade, but she gripped his wrist.

“Thank you, but we can show ourselves in,” she said.

“Not without checking your weapons first, ladies. And whichever that headless one is.”

Amaia rolled their eyes at the whole thing. There was probably at least one monster to deal with in there, and these people wanted to go in there unarmed.

“I can’t,” Millie said. “It’s my, um...my walking stick!”

The guard simply gave her a long stare. “A walking stick. With a huge sickle-shaped blade on the end.”

“It’s a modern walking stick?”

He wasn’t impressed, and they weren’t going to be let in without setting their weapons aside. Sara had volunteered to stay back to keep an eye on said weapons, but her presence was requested as well. And that in and of itself was enough to give them all pause.

“...Wait. I was mentioned specifically?” Sara asked.

“You, the witch, the dullahan, the werewolf, and the former queen.”

“...Can you give us a minute?” Talia asked with a smile, before the group got into a huddle.

“Okay, so how in the hell would my cousin know about Amaia or Sara?” she asked, whispering to the others. “Because we hadn’t met until we were a decent ways away from where she’d see us…”

Millie groaned. “You don’t think…”

“He’s probably here, yeah,” Amaia muttered.

They broke the huddle, Talia sighing. “Okay, so, we’re fairly certain there’s a legitimate threat inside that castle, so we’re not giving up our weapons.”

The guards laughed. “If there were a threat, don’t you think we’d have neutralized it by now?”

“Well, clearly not, if we’re concerned about it,” said Millie.

“Oh, just let them keep the weapons!” the voice shrieked again, this time layered with Niles’ voice and the electronic filter over the feminine one from before. “I’ve been ready for them to bring me a good fight!”

Somehow, that felt worse than them being unarmed, if he was ready for them. But the crew would much rather take their chances armed and ready to fight him. And so, they allowed the guards to escort them inside. The march inside was quiet, and the first thing any of them noticed in the corridor was the dried out corpse of another vampire. Female, short spiky black hair. And Talia felt a quiet rage begin to take hold.

They’d need to win this one. If they didn’t, Talia was set to lose her home and two of her friends. And she’d have an inconsolable werewolf to deal with when she lost her human to the Underworld again.

Niles needed to be stopped.

They were brought to the courtyard, where it was clear that some redecoration had occurred. The benches with their red cushions had been replaced with golden chairs (which made both Amaia and Millie rather uncomfortable...one because they had a natural aversion to it, the other because that much gold in one room was a tacky eyesore). What had once been black was now a shining white, all of the red replaced with gold.

But most striking of all was the fountain. That fountain had been part of the family for generations. Blood no longer flowed from its no-longer-black structure, replaced with liquid gold. The sculpture at the top had turned into an angel.

And then they were greeted by the one allegedly in charge around there. A vampire smiled at them, and Talia cursed upon realizing what she saw. Her cousin’s soft cheeks, paired with her mother’s bright eyes. But the sclerae had that yellowish tint. There was a slight aura around her.

“Welcome home, Talia,” that voice said, melding both her mother and cousin’s voices with Niles’ and the electronic effect.

“What have you done…” she whispered, hand flying to Shade’s Fang in its sheath.

More figures began to appear in the courtyard. Some were drooling creatures intent on rending flesh apart, others were horrific amalgamations of former champions and others they knew. Amaia gripped Vertiwhip, shoulders shaking as they noticed that one of those figures resembled a cross between Valentina’s body and Amon. Millie held Final Draft, eyes narrowed as she glared at their growing number of opponents. Nibbles took a moment to lick the weapons and provide them with a healthy coating of her saliva…

And then she let out a howl, ready to do this.