Chapter 14: The Horned Vampire

“Rosaline, let us take him in,” Baron asked. “We know how to deal with his ilk, and we’ll report back what we get out of him.”

Rosaline looked to him, then to Diana. Her hunter gave an encouraging nod. She sighed and relented. “Release.” Archer’s hands finally obeyed him. Baron and Carter grabbed him from both sides and forced him back into the clan’s halls. The Inquisitor sheathed her blade after wiping it clean.

“I can certainly guarantee that we’ll get to the bottom of this conspiracy,” Gerald promised her.

“Do let me know what he confesses. I’m sure you can find your way to my castle.”

“Well, yes,” Gerald awkwardly confirmed. “We will apologize for this incident. We’ll take full responsibility and make things right.”

“Thank you. If this incident can solve two crimes, we can call it even.” A sense of dread and darkness enveloped her. She glared and cast a wary gaze around her.

Baron and Carter ran out of the building. “Gerald, Archer’s gone! He vanished through some dark opening.”

“What?!” Gerald was alarmed.

“He said his master’s coming,” Carter finished.

“Mobilize your forces,” Rosaline advised the hunters as she pulled a silver locket out of her cloak. Clair appeared on the glass before her. “A Dark Weaver is coming. Prepare the golems.” Unnaturally dark clouds blot out the sun, offering further confirmation.

“Yes, Lady Rosaline,” Clair replied before she vanished from the glass.

“A Dark Weaver?” Diana asked.

“A mage who wields the power of darkness. They’re a dangerous type,” Rosaline explained. “Just stay near me, and everything will be fine.”

Diana drew her sword and stood ready. “I’m a hunter too, you know.”

“I know, but you’re my hunter, and I want you near me.”

Before Diana could offer a cute retort, a deafening roar carried across the entire village.

Rosaline, Diana, and the group of hunters raced toward the source. A large, hulking man dressed in rags stood at the village gates. “The horned vampire!” Diana exclaimed, highlighting his vicious fangs, his razor-sharp claws, and the jagged horn that protruded from his head, crowned by long, slick black hair.

“That is no vampire, dear,” Rosaline corrected her. “That is an abomination, a creature of science and magic.” She drew her sword and carefully planned her attack. “It’s what your friends would have become had their mana cores activated.”

“Thank God you got to us first,” Carter breathed. His comrades shared his sentiments.

A man in a wide-rimmed hat and long black coat appeared from the shadows behind the abomination. “Rosaline de Clairmont. How rude of you to escape me twice.” Archer appeared beside him, grinning in victory.

Rosaline was visibly stunned. Then she narrowed her eyes and smiled. “That same magic from San Severino. How kind of you to appear before me. I promise, your death will be slow and painful.” Her voice and eyes reflected only pure tempered hate and rage.

“Elijah, what is the meaning of this?!” Gerald demanded. “You’re supposed to be a hunter. Why would you stand with such a god-forsaken creature?”

“I could ask the same of you. That you would welcome a vampire of all fiends into your village is an affront to all hunters,” Elijah retorted.

“Archer works for you, right? You implanted those mana cores in us to destroy Colchester,” Baron accused him. “You wanted to smite all of those innocent people and blame it on the vampires, didn’t you?”

“That’s not entirely true,” Rosaline began. “I could have killed you all in an instant, well before the mana orbs could have erupted. Had I done that, Elijah and Archer would have claimed it to be an unprovoked attack by the Shadow Inquisition.”

“And if you tried to talk to us during battle, those things would have turned us into monsters. Either way, people would have died, and he would have set the narrative,” Diana concluded.

A genuine smile formed on Rosaline’s lips. “My curiosity and mercy upset his plans.”

“The horned vampire is also his way of ending the hunters’ cooperation with the Shadow Inquisition. We accused them of covering up the attacks, after all.”

“Cooperating with the enemy is an act of treason, girl. Ours is a holy war. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, ogres, we must hunt them all. God made this world for humans, and humans alone,” Elijah declared. He snapped his fingers, signalling a swarm of smaller horned abominations to burst out of the woods and empty cabins in the village.

“Enough of this.” Rosaline vanished from her spot and appeared behind the horned vampire, beheading it in one clean slice. The scent of its blood alarmed her, forcing her to pull back. Its blood burned and poisoned all it touched as it spilled onto the ground, confirming her fears.

“Fight at range! Avoid their blood at all costs!” Rosaline warned the hunters. All but Diana left to battle the monsters Elijah summoned.

She watched as tendrils flew out from its neck and reattached its head. “Sometimes, I truly wish I had listened to my father and traded my sword for a paintbrush. Artists don’t have to deal with creatures like you.”

Darkness coiled around Elijah’s hand like a snake. “My sentiments exactly. I would not have had to finish what I started-” A magic collar wrapped around his neck, ending his taunts.

“I apologize for the delay, Lady Rosaline. I had to enhance the collar, or this Dark Weaver would have broken through it,” Clair announced herself. “The maid golems are assisting the hunters in defense of the village. Do you require anything else?”

Elijah struggled to remove the collar and free his magic. “You dare?! Another human, twisted by this ungodly wretch!” He drew his crossbow and fired a bolt. Clair deflected it with a short sword and stood ready to fight.

“Hey, she’s my ungodly wretch!” Diana angrily charged at him. Archer intercepted her with his sword drawn. Diana quickly parried his first strike and delivered a slash across his chest. He fell to the ground and gripped his chest as he crawled away from her. Clair bound his hands and ankles in chains and dragged him away.

“Aww, she really does love me~.” Rosaline sheathed her sword and took a fighting stance. She avoided its fast and mighty punch and delivered one of her own, striking its chest. She evaded another punch and delivered a series of lightning-fast strikes around its torso.

It quickly became clear that the monster’s strength and speed were no match for Rosaline. She effortlessly danced around it and struck different parts of its body, from its arms and legs to its head and back. Her vampiric senses were sharpened to probe the creature and locate its mana core. The monster winced in pain with every strike that pushed him back and forth. It roared and smashed its fists into the ground, sending large rocks spraying around it.