Through the streets of Gotic, Camellia led her group.

“Nice of those clumsy bozos to warn us. We got out of there just in time,” Meladee said.

Eva shook her head. “No, they can still catch us. We haven’t escaped yet.”

“Why do you have to be like that?” Meladee panted.

Eva smiled. “We just need to outrun them.”

Camellia trotted a bit ahead of her friends. Down shadowed alleys, she glimpsed figures. All appeared humanoid, without the creature’s distinct tentacles. Still, they seemed suspicious. She opened her mind and heard whispers of barely formed plans, just before Ah’nee’thit shut her out.

With worried eyes, Camellia turned back to her friends. “They’re following us. Some already seem to be ahead of us. I think we should take a detour and head for Gotic’s industry district. It leads to the shore.”

Eva gestured for Camellia to lead the way, and Meladee quickened her pace, pushing Camellia on.

Camellia sped up. With her eyes and telepathy, she investigated an alley. She saw nothing. She heard nothing. The way seemed clear. She tugged her friends’ sleeves, and the two women followed her between buildings of dark stone. Silently, Camellia sprinted ahead and rounded the corner. The alley turned into another narrow passage. This one led down three flights of steps into the industry district.

Camellia stopped at the steps and looked over the lower portion of the city. Far below, brick buildings stretched all the way to the sea. The red exteriors – so different from the dark wood and rock common in Gotic – stood out against the blue, green ocean. Among the buildings, more alleys and stairs sloped, all headed down to the sea.

Again, Camellia saw their path clear, and when Eva and Meladee joined her, she dashed down the steps, skipping a few to get ahead.

From behind, Meladee quipped, “This place is so fucking ominous. Shadow land under the most gothic city on Iruedim, which happens to be under the darkest, cloudiest sky around the planet.”

“It seems normal to me,” Camellia called back.

“It would.”

“It’s a bit tight,” Eva said. “A good place to lose them, but I’m worried they might await us at the shipyard.”

“We can get to the shipyard faster from here.” Camellia wove through the district.

They found themselves among shopfronts. Streetlights cast cobbled paths and brick walls in sepia tones. Through the reddish landscape, they darted.

Camellia turned past a small millinery, and they entered a new alley and a new set of stairs. This time there were nearly twenty flights. The stairs presented an almost straight path to the sea. In the distance, a dark, green swirl of ocean lay, lit by harbor lights.

Camellia paused and listened with her ears and mind for cultists...or vampires...or any other Groazan predator. A few ghostly whispers reached her. A single one longed for food – blood. Others longed for home and bed. A few gave hints of pursuit, probably cultists. Camellia snatched some images from their minds and determined their general locations. She received a thrum of short-lived anger - Ah’nee’thit.

“Oh my god,” Meladee whined. She’d reached the top of the stairs. “I might drop dead from this set. Maybe, I can trip a cultist or two for you guys.”

Eva pushed Meladee forward. “Just go. Don’t make me carry you.”

“Hell no. I’m leaving this place under my own power,” Meladee fumed.

The three women started down the stairs, and Camellia planned their route. First, they would cut through a couple of open warehouses. Then, they would flee over the docks. Finally, they would enter the shipyard and fly away with their prize: the embroidered handkerchief.

Camellia skipped the last steps and jumped to level ground. She headed for the first warehouse. It was lit and busy. Camellia barreled inside, passing carts and boxes. In a heartbeat, Eva and Meladee followed. Camellia didn’t slow, but she felt Eva and Meladee fall behind. All around the warehouse, men whistled.

“Hey!” someone shouted to Camellia. “What’re you doing?”

Someone else told him to shut up, and others declared the women entertainment.

Camellia just ran.

“Whoa, two, no three little ladies! This is our lucky night, boys!”

Meladee and Eva ran at Camellia’s side.

With wide eyes, Meladee accused, “You led us into the midnight rapists’ shift!”

Despite Meladee’s fears, the men didn’t move to stop them, mostly. They paused their work and watched. Ahead, a grinning man prepared to catch Camellia, but she knocked over a crate and slid it into his knees.

“Oh!” he yelled as he went down. When she passed, he muttered, “Bitch.”

Camellia steered her friends up a metal stair and walk.

“Miss! Girls! You can’t go up there!”

Eva and Meladee both slowed, but Camellia didn’t listen. She continued to run, giving her friends no choice but to follow. They ran past a pool of molten metal. They circled the entire boiling pot and ran down the back of the metal walk. Camellia jumped out a low window, open for ventilation, and she landed back into the sepia night.

Meladee and Eva followed.

Eva asked, “How many more of these places are there?”

“Oh.” Camellia panted. “In total? Dozens. But, we only need to see one more. Hopefully, no night shift.” Camellia glanced over her shoulder.

Meladee held up two fingers. “Two stars.”

“Two stars?” Eva asked.

“It’s a rating system,” Meladee said. “One to five.”

“You should have given it one,” Eva countered, with a look of disbelief.

“Can’t. Shirtless men. That automatically adds a star.”

Camellia thought back. She didn’t remember any shirtless men. Besides, going shirtless in a warehouse with molten metal seemed stupid, but she believed a man existed who would do it.

She caught her breath and beckoned her friends onward. She trotted towards a main street. It would take them down to the docks. Camellia stopped. She glanced up the wide street, back the way they’d come. Several blocks back, on a stairway, shadows stood.

“Oh.” Camellia huffed. She rubbed her forehead. “More cultists.” Then, she resumed their run. 

“More than I expected,” Eva said.

Camellia saved her energy and didn’t respond. Instead, she waved her friends after and led them down a sleazy alley. A down-on-his-luck vampire sat in a doorway.

Camellia informed him, “Food behind us. Enjoy.”

As they passed, the vampire looked up and prepared to catch some cultists.

Around the corner and out of sight, Camellia jumped atop a crate and scooted into a window. Eva and Meladee followed. The warehouse they entered was full of fishing tools and fish. The smell of fish hung in the air. Meladee took a deep breath, and Eva’s face crinkled in disgust. Camellia merely sniffed and frowned, not loving the smell, but she couldn’t say it was worse than the cow’s pasture. She ran silently down the rows, past crates of supplies and food.

Wind coursed through the aisles of fish, cool and salty. Camellia realized that the door to the warehouse must be open, and through that portal, they would find the sea. Camellia looked ahead and searched for that door. She couldn’t see it over the piles and piles of crates, but she followed the wind.

As she walked, she reached telepathically back. Behind them, a few cultists screamed, some audible, but most she heard in her mind. The cultists battled the vampire, but ultimately, it was the vampire who perished. Camellia heard his final telepathic cry.

“They just killed a vampire,” she whispered to her friends.

Meladee’s eyes widened. “I don’t want to fight them.”

“We should save our energy for Lurren,” Eva also whispered. “Can you summon soil men with your bell? Use them as decoys?”

Meladee shook her head. “I can’t get them out of cobblestones or wood planks or tile. If it’s man-made, it won’t work.” Meladee shrugged. “Don’t you think I’d have done that by now? Besides, if you can’t see your enemies, they’re not a great help. They’re kind of stupid.”

The women bent low and crept among the crates. Camellia led. She rounded a tall stack and finally saw the open warehouse door. It beckoned them, and so did a straight path to the docks, which they could use to reach the shipyard. An overturned boat, cover flapping in the wind, provided final cover to the door. They tucked themselves beneath and scooted towards the prow.

Steps entered the warehouse through the dockside door. Camellia paused, as did her friends. She didn’t dare reach with her telepathy. She knew the footsteps belonged to cultists.

The cultists said nothing but began to walk the aisles. Camellia listened to their slow and measured tread. She watched as shadows passed on either side of the boat, and she pushed her friends further back into the prow. A shadow stopped, and Camellia froze. A masculine face glanced briefly underneath. The man looked right at them, but he didn’t see. Camellia couldn’t believe it. Her fast beating heart quieted, and she turned to her friends.

Meladee mouthed, Fucker must be blind.

Camellia nodded. Then, leaning close to the other two, she showed them her sword and pointed to one of the spells. “Fish storm,” she whispered.

“Yeeaaaah,” Meladee whispered. She nodded her approval. “I’ll make the rain.”

Eva watched under the boat for their cultists and any reinforcements that might come through the warehouse doors.

Camellia flipped her sword’s blade and read the directions. She reminded herself of the proper flourish. The correct motions would create a whirlwind that moved away from the sword bearer – ideal since they didn’t want to get caught in their fish storm. She readied her blade, and Meladee smirked, looking ready as well. A magic circle appeared dimly around Meladee’s feet. Camellia performed her flourish.

The boat flew off their hiding place and became the first object to join the whirlwind. Countless crates, barrels, and ropes followed, and the twister grew as it spun from side to side. The initial blast had startled Camellia and blinded her to Meladee’s spell, but she witnessed the result. Rain poured from the warehouse ceiling, drenching even its caster and her companions. Eva pulled the others out the doors, amid men’s angry screams. Camellia looked back to see not only crates and fish in the whirlwind, but also some tools and a few dead sharks.

Outside, they ran down a wide avenue, big enough for ten or eleven wagons to ride abreast. Street lights illuminated their path to the docks.

Belatedly, Meladee cast an invisibility spell, and Camellia wondered why Meladee hadn’t done it sooner. Of course, they would see how much it really helped. Could it hide them from a cult whose monster could find you across the world without the gift of sight?

Camellia saw herself turn shadowy. Around and ahead, purple and blue tones painted the dockside. Gone were the industrial sector’s sepia tones, and under Meladee’s shadowy spell, Camellia felt a part of their surroundings. Purple shadows engulfed her friends’ figures, and they too looked like they belonged. Camellia felt a return to Gotic’s dark aesthetic. They ran on the great black road, and ahead, green water churned beyond the dark wood of the docks.

When they reached the docks, they paused and tucked themselves against another overturned boat. Meladee panted; Eva’s eyes darted left and right, and Camellia closed her eyes to listen.

The four cultists in the fish storm were unharmed and very angry. More cultists guarded the shipyard, vaguely aware of her telepathic probing. She avoided deep contact, learning only that the shipyard cultists could not tell which ship was Faustina.

“I think we need to sneak in,” Camellia announced. “There are a lot of cultists at the shipyard, and the fish storm victims are okay.”

Meladee, still out of breath, recast her invisibility spell. It momentarily announced their presence, with the glow of its magic circle. Eva put a hand on Camellia’s arm and urged her to lead. Meladee took up her place in the middle, and Eva brought up the rear. In silence, they walked.

“Mages?” Meladee questioned quietly.

“I don’t know,” Camellia said.

“They’ll be at the shipyard if there are any. Fish guys obviously weren’t.” Meladee paused. “Mages I mean. The guys in the fish warehouse weren’t mages. Just in case you thought I meant fish men can’t be mages. That’s obviously…bigoted.”

“Quiet,” Eva scolded. “I don’t want to fight any mages. They are the worst opponents Iruedim has to offer aside from the creature.”

Meladee glared, but Eva silenced her with a finger to the lips.

Camellia pointed ahead. Several men moved among the shadows. Two women stood beneath a tree. Camellia could see the people, and she suspected Eva could as well, judging from how well Eva’s eyes tracked the shadows. Meladee could not. She searched the darkness, looking in all the wrong places.

“Trapped,” Meladee stated. “There are spells all around the perimeter of the shipyard.”

“How can you tell?” Camellia asked, seeing nothing to indicate magic.

“I’m pretty used to the way magic feels,” Meladee said. “And, the air is abuzz with it. Before we enter, we need to trigger those spells. I can’t tell for sure how many there are, so we need to hit the entire area.” Meladee pointed at one end of the shipyard to the other. At the end of the docks, she pointed to some grass and suggested, “Could use the bell if you don’t mind announcing our location.”

Eva looked around and put her hands on her hips. “We aren’t using the bell. We’re already invisible. Besides, we don’t need your stupid dirt men attacking innocents. We need to find some kind of trigger to set off the spells. Other than ourselves.”

With her keen, night-adjusted eyes, Camellia helped Eva search, but all she found were ropes, bobbing boats, and crates.

“We have nothing.” Eva eyed a crate with some desperation.

Camellia reached out to the night, probing gently. She didn’t know how telepathic communication could help her find a suitable trigger. She just felt it might. Her efforts locked in on little minds, belonging to long-tailed, furry critters, chiefly concerned with food and sex. The docks had an abundance of rodent life.

Camellia’s eyes lit. “Oh, I have an idea, but it’s disgusting, and we might have to take a few with us.”

“What?” Meladee whispered.

“Rats. Let’s send lots of rats. They’re everywhere – below the docks, running on the rafters, nesting in empty crates.”

Eva searched the docks. She stood on tiptoe.

“That is disgusting, but I don’t see them anywhere. When did you become the queen of rats?” Meladee asked.

In a hushed voice, Camellia said, “Most vampires have telepathy, the ability to drink blood, enhanced strength, and speed. But, there are extra abilities, like feeding on emotions or energy, animal transformation, becoming a fine mist...things that most vampires don’t have. Lucky vampires get the regular abilities, plus something special. In my father’s case, those specialties are plant and animal empathy. That’s why he’s a farmer.”

“So, you’re the queen of plants and animals.” Meladee nodded.

Camellia shook her head. “Not exactly. I can make plants grow easier, and cut flowers last a bit longer in my presence. But when it comes to animals, I’m more mediocre. Dhampirs don’t get everything their vampire parent has to give.”

Camellia and all her siblings possessed a fraction of her father’s strengths, and each of them had a unique variation, especially in regards to plant and animal empathy.

Camellia continued, “I’m not great, but rats shouldn’t be a problem.” Camellia closed her eyes and prepared to call her army of rats. She sent them images of dry, warm nests and food...so much food. All to be found at the shipyard.

Rats scurried out of from under the docks; a few surfaced near a surprised and disgusted Eva. More rats streamed from crates.

Meladee huddled close to Camellia and declared, “We need vampire kitten here. We need a ton of vampire kittens. Wow, I always thought Groazan docks didn’t have too many rats, but you guys are hiding them. You’ve got sneaky rats.”

Eva sidled up to Camellia’s other side, and Camellia smiled.

The rats scurried up the shipyard stairs and over the grassy hill. Spells triggered, firing signals like fireworks into the air. The rats entered the shipyard unharmed, and a moment later, the air filled with screams. Camellia half-smiled.

“Let’s go,” Eva commanded. She led the way to the shipyard. They climbed over the grass, avoiding the cultists.

Still invisible, they ran for their ship, dodging unsuspecting terrorized sailors and pilots. When the invisibility spell wore off, Meladee sighed.

At least, they wouldn’t be trampled. Rats ran everywhere. They scurried on ropes, perched atop railings, and a few even swarmed over balloons. On a cockpit roof, a tabby cat crouched and watched the rats with wide eyes. The cat made no move to hunt them.

Soon, Faustina was in sight. The small ship, parked among other small ships, stood free of cultists. But, like every other ship in the yard, rats swarmed over her.

“There are rats all over my ship,” Meladee breathed. “Do something about that.” She gestured to her Faustina.

Camellia closed her eyes and sent the rats a new message. Faustina was on fire! Hot and smokey.

Fire! Fire!!!! Their little rat minds called.

Camellia smiled. If they weren’t so dirty, they would have been cute. The rats fled Faustina and a couple neighboring ships. As Camellia opened her eyes, she saw Meladee rush to Faustina and disengage the locks. They all crowded inside and prepared for takeoff. Other ships lifted into the air, and Faustina joined the horde.

“You really thought this was better than soil men? From where I’m standing, looks like we bothered a whole lot of innocents.” Meladee stared at Camellia. “This ability is disgusting. The only thing that would make it worse is bugs.”

“I can’t do this kind of thing with bugs.” Camellia shook her head and waved a hand in denial.

Just then, an unwilling passenger made itself known. It squealed out from under the seat. Camellia watched as the rat scurried over Eva’s feet. Eva jumped onto the cushion, and Camellia laughed.