Everyone was quickly downing potions. Trying to recuperate as much mana and strength, as fast as possible. If Celine was right, the enemy that had caught us in that trap was still close by. No one looked in particularly good shape. We had been caught in the trap for quite some time, hours had gone by, and it was now dark. Celine was stood at the edge of the group, nervously keeping lookout.

Beth got to her feet and walked over to Celine once she had taken her potions. “Weren’t you supposed to check ahead? Did you let us fall into that trap on purpose?”

“I did check ahead! I couldn’t sense anything. The trap was expertly laid.” Answered Celine.

“How do we know you didn’t lead us all in there?”

“I didn’t! I wouldn’t!”

“We can’t know that for sure.”

“But…”

Altria stepped in between the two girls. “If she had done that, then she wouldn’t still be here would she? She would just have left us inside to die.”

“I suppose…” Beth fiddled her hair before shaking her head. “I’m just not sure if we can trust her.”

“I know how you feel, but trust me, she isn’t going to let anything happen to Theo. If she had spotted that trap, she would have alerted us.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I’ve seen just how concerned about him she is, and she isn’t wrong. That trap was expertly laid. I didn’t spot the slightest sign. None of us did until it sprung. I wonder what’s out there waiting for us.” Altria said looking out into the village ahead of us.

Liz had been listening to them speak and walked to the front of the group where they were stood. “I think I could have a good guess, but I expect Celine knows. She must have seen them after all?” She said as she stepped up.

Celine nodded. “I saw them, yes. I wasn’t expecting us to encounter someone like that here, but we did. They’re a vampire, a noble and ancient… We should get out of here before they return.”

“Just as I expected. Perhaps we should try to make a run for it. If I had to guess though, they won’t let us escape. They’ve probably already completely healed from the damage Theo dealt them and the only reason they haven’t returned is because they’re watching to see what we do next…” Explained Liz.

“Hold on, a vampire?” I felt my neck, almost instinctively, but there was no wound. I was sure there were none on my body anywhere. “Don’t they drink blood?” I asked.

“They do.”

“But none of us appear to have been drank from.”

“They don’t only drink blood, they also feed on a person’s psychic energy. Their desires and emotions. That’s what the dream state was all about. If I had to guess, they were going to do that until we were spent, then drink our blood. I don’t expect there is much traffic here, they probably wanted us to last a while. They wouldn’t need to hunt for a while.”

“So how do we fight them? Wooden stake through the heart? Sunlight?”

“A stake through the heart? No, no.” She laughed. “It’s true sunlight does weaken them, but an ancient one it won’t kill… Our only chance is decapitation and total cremation of their body. Too bad we don’t have our best fire mage with us any longer.”

“Fire mage, you mean Lillia?”

“Yes, but I suppose we’ll have to make do. I can wield some, but it won’t be enough to destroy them. It might buy us enough time to escape, although our presence here will no longer be a secret. It might make the journey ahead more perilous. I’m not sure what the best course of action here is. What do you think Serin?”

Serin had been busily checking over her gear whilst she listened in to our conversation. She stepped forward and pulled her rapier from its sheath.

“We stay and find it. Even if we manage to get out of here without it following us, our presence here will be revealed. If we fight it here, at the very least we can buy ourselves time to reach the shrine and carry out our investigation…” She answered.

We all knew she was right. If we were going to make a run for it, we would have to head back to Dunshelm. No one wanted to do that.

“Very well.” Liz said, then opening her palm a flame sprung up.

Beth drew her sword and stood next to Serin.

“I suppose we should take the front?” She asked.

“Yes… Liz, you and Theo are behind us.”

“Okay.” Answered Liz.

We started to form up behind the two girls.

“Altria take the rear.” Instructed Serin.

“Sure.”

“You too Celine, we need you to watch our backs.”

“Are you really going to do this?” Asked Celine.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll do what I can to protect master.”

“Thanks.”

“Are we going to move ahead without a scout?” I asked, a little confused about our current formation.

“Yes… It’s too dangerous to have someone up front on their own and besides, no one picked up the first trap. Our best chance now, is probably Beth’s nose.” Explained Serin.

“I’ll do what I can.” Beth said from next to her. “I already have her scent from the blood.”

“Good. Let’s move, eyes peeled everyone.” Serin said giving the order.

We slowly moved from the place we had been held for hours. It was still dark, but the night was clear, and the moon was high in the sky. It at least gave enough light for those of us with poor night vision to see where we were going. We made the obvious move and followed the trail of blood that led down the street. This only led us so far, and as we reached a slight bend in the road the trail ceased. Serin glanced over to Beth questioningly.

“Sorry, I’ve lost the scent.” Beth answered shaking her head.

“That’s okay, we’ll just keep moving. It won’t take us too long to cover this area.”

We continued to make our way down the village’s main street. The place appeared to be one main road that ran right through from one end to the other. There were a few smaller roads that led off the main street, but we could come back and check those if we didn’t run into the vampire before then.

We barely made a sound as we cautiously crept our way across the village. Each and every one of us was paying full attention to our surroundings. Suddenly there was a loud clang to side of us. It came from one of the nearby buildings on our left. The whole party spun to face the direction the noise came from. I could feel my heart beating hard in my chest as I looked. There was a small cloud of dust that had been kicked up, but no sign of anything else.

“It’s okay. It was just a tile that fell off the roof over there. I saw it fall.” Altria said calmly from our rear.

I breathed a sigh of relief and we started to move again. It was times like these I wished I had good night vision like Altria. As it was, my imagination was running wild with what I couldn’t see and the shadows that moved as we passed. At least I knew that one of the others would give the warning if something really was there. We pressed on until we reached another branch in the road, we were just about to walk past when Beth threw her spare hand up in front of Serin. The rest of the group came to an immediate halt.

“What is it?” Asked Serin.

“The scent, it’s back…” Answered Beth.

She was glancing side to side, as if she couldn’t make up her mind.

“Which way?”

“I’m not sure, I can’t make sense of it. It’s coming from all around us. Is there really only one of it?” She asked.

“There’s only one.” Celine answered from the rear of the group.

“Then what is this?”

The group fell silent. Each of us was peering out into the darkness, hoping to get a glimpse of the thing that Beth’s nose could detect. It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but I could barely see a thing. I could hear something. Something cutting through the air. It was quiet and intermittent, but it was there, I was sure of it. One moment it was to our left, then it was overhead and then behind our group. Finally, there was a single distinct swoosh from up ahead. I already knew from the reaction of the others, even before I looked ahead that something had appeared. I glanced forward, about twenty paces up ahead of our group and faintly lit by the moonlight, I saw her.