Before Alice met Victor outside the mansion, Victor danced with Penny inside.  As bad as it was for him to use his powers on her while she was awake, the damage he did to her subconscious while she slept was arguably worse.  Here, in the mindscape, Penny thought of herself as Miranda, her old life lost to her.

            Gary watched out of the corner of his eye, feeling a mixture of pity and despair.  While he was heartbroken seeing Alice’s cousin lose herself, he had his own problems.  Gary could feel the identity of William slowly encroaching on his mind, and it wouldn’t be long before he was as consumed by his new identity as Penny.  He wore a butler's uniform as the blonde vampire who had taken him enjoyed herself by bossing him around.

            “William,” she said.  “Refill the drinks.”

            “Yes, ma'am,” said Gary, lifting the tray of fancy cups and taking it to the punch bowl.

            It was, of course, filled not with punch but with blood.  Before, such a sight made him feel nauseous, but he was strangely comfortable around it now.  That wasn’t good.

            As he refilled the glasses, he froze as a chill swept through the room.  Every figure in the room had stopped moving and now looked to the entrance.  Victor himself seemed confused by something as he left Penny’s side, strolling to the mansion entrance.  Penny watched him go curiously, and even the vampire controlling Gary seemed confused and followed Victor.

            Gary wondered what was going on when suddenly he felt a cold hand on his shoulder as a familiar, feminine voice whispered a word in his ear.

            “Awaken.”

            Gary opened his eyes and sat up suddenly.  He was in the mansion’s master bedroom, and in the real world the whole thing was dusty and decayed, with cracks lining the wall and vines over the windows.

            Looking around, he saw the vampire who had taken him laying just a few inches away.  Her glamour was down as she slept, her vampiric body as still as a corpse.  Gary slowly stood up and moved away.  Gary remembered his sessions with Alice and Jacqueline for the first time while awake and knew that Alice was distracting the vampire lord right now.  He and Penny had to take advantage of this chance.

            He looked over and saw Penny laying on a massive four poster bed.  Beside her lay Victor, also still as a corpse, and he held Penny close, his arm draped over her and his vampiric form menacing even in sleep.  Poor Penny lay completely still, her eyes wide open with fear and her face white as a sheet.  Gary slowly moved towards the bed, careful not to make a sound.

            A few other vampires lay on the floor, an entourage of vampires Victor had turned personally, including one he favored named Isabella.  He’d only brought Gary and his vampire into this room to keep an eye on them since Gary was successfully resisting.

            Fortunately, Gary didn’t see Walter in the room.  Walter was apparently a warlock, and that raven familiar of his gave Gary the creeps.  Gary didn’t know where he was, but he was glad the warlock wasn’t there.

            Upon reaching the bed, Gary carefully crawled onto it, making Penny close her eyes.  Victor didn’t seem disturbed by the motion, but Gary detected the hint of a smile.  It seemed Alice’s plan was working, and he hoped she would be safe.

            Still moving slowly, he lightly touched victor’s arm and moved it off Penny.  Penny kept her eyes closed the whole time, but after what seemed a minute, Gary got the arm off Penny.  She opened her eyes, and Gary mouthed, ‘let’s go.’  Though still visibly frightened, Penny nodded and slowly moved away from Victor.

            As they carefully crawled off the bed, Victor remained as still as ever.  Finally, they were off the bed.  Gary held Penny’s hand as they walked cautiously to the door, stepping lightly around the vampires on the floor.  Soon, they were out of that room.

            That was the first step.

###

Alice fled into the same hedge mage she’d entered the last time she entered Victor’s mindscape.  Immediately she looked for the red threads that could lead her out, and she sensed them just beyond the mental world.  Unfortunately, the threads vanished from her senses instantly.  Lord Victor just had too much control here.

            Alice darted to the side, then waited, not wanting to get ahead of the vampire.  Looking around the corner, she saw him and realized he was looking for her.  It seemed training with Jacqueline to hide her thoughts had paid off.

            A moment later, two more vampires appeared next to Victor, Fara and Harold. 

            “She’s here?” asked the woman.

            “Yes, Fara,” said Victor, “She’s here, but I’m having trouble seeing her thoughts.  It’s strange.  I’m still not sure how the night hunters were protecting her.”

            “Never mind that,” said Fara angrily.  “She’s vulnerable now.  We need to catch her.”

            “I agree,” said Harold, pointing at Alice’s location.

            Alice didn’t waste time.  She pulled out her father’s cross, and immediately the mindscape began to shake.  As the elders came into view, Alice imagined the cross as a katana.  The cross transformed into the curved weapon, which she stabbed into the ground.  The earth split apart, revealing a dark chasm, and as Victor watched her, eyes wide with amazement, Alice gave him a quick look of defiance before jumping down into that darkness.

            A moment later, Alice fell into a cellar, splashing into some red liquid that came up to her knees.  The walls and floor were made of grey brick and covered in cracks dripping with that red liquid.  Lining shelves were barrels of wine that had been split apart and lay in shambles.

            Alice looked up and saw the three vampires peeking down the crack from twenty feet above.  Victor hesitated, a hint of fear in his eyes, but Harold and Fara had no such limit and jumped down after her.  Alice fled, her feet splashing through the red liquid, and moments later, the two elder vampires landed, splashing and running after her.

            As Alice ran, she sought those red threads again.  Before she could sense them, something cold and slimy grabbed her leg, sending a shiver down her spine and stopping her in place.  Looking down, she saw hands covered in red slime reaching out of that liquid and grabbing her legs, trying to pull her down.

            Her eyes wide with a mixture of fear and disgust, Alice swung her katana, but the hands wouldn’t cut.  She hacked at the hands, her sword rebounding each time until she remembered what this place was.  The mental basement was the last remaining human part of this vampire.  A weapon formed from the mental image of a cross wouldn’t be as useful here.

            More red hands reached out of that liquid, trying to pull her down.  Alice struggled frantically, then took a quick look back at her pursuers.  She could see the hands were grabbing the legs of the two elder vampires, slowing them down, though they swatted the hands away with flicks of their wrists that burst the hands into liquid.

            What was the other method Jacqueline told her about to fight here?  Thinking back, Alice remembered it was anger.  Focus, she told herself.  Staying still for a moment, even as more hands reached out to grab her, Alice thought of what a vampire did to her brother, drawing on the rage she felt at them.  Alice clenched her hand around the curved sword, and that weapon began to glow with a red light.

            Now infused with rage, Alice swung the katana and cut the hands away before fleeing again.  The two elders still followed, hot on her heels.  Alice had to find those red threads with her senses again, and she felt them at the edge of the mental world.  She made a beeline for it, swinging at the red hands as they reached out to grab her.

            And then, as she ran, Alice caught sight of something in that basement that chilled her to the core.

            The entrance to this cellar was a trapdoor high above.  Just below the trapdoor, Alice could see the top of a ladder bolted to the brick walls, much of it broken off.  Alice could see the pieces of that ladder floating in that liquid.  Beneath that wreckage, Alice could see the silhouette of a man submerged.  She couldn’t make out his features, but she could barely see the outline of hands holding him down, and he made no attempt to break free.

            Next to him, Alice could see scratch marks on the stone wall beneath the trapdoor.  This man had tried to claw his way out of this dark cellar, but now he lay still, and Alice understood why.  This was the human part of Victor, suppressed by a vampire and buried deep in his mind.  That part of Victor had given up a long time ago, and now Victor was a monster.  The creature attacking Saint Vivia, tormenting Penny and Garry, had been an ordinary man once, but no more.

            She couldn’t think about it for too long.  Fara and Harold were still chasing her.

            “Get back here!” Fara cried, her face contorted with rage as she swatted a red hand away.

            Now that she was near the edge, Alice slammed her hand against the wall and searched for a thread.  When she sensed one, she mentally reached for it, and that thread burst through the wall, wrapping around her hand.  She sensed the presence of a basement as Jacqueline advised her to and then pulled on the thread.  Just as Fara reached for her, Alice cut hands away from her legs and felt the thread pull back, yanking her out of the vampire’s reach, through the brick wall, and into the next mind.

###

Outside the bedroom where Victor lay sleeping, Penny and Gary stalked into the dark hallway.  Out there, vampires lay on the floor, sleeping still as stones, as well as their human thralls, who shifted in their sleep.  There wasn’t enough room in the mansion for all of them to have a room, so many had to make due.  The two looked around nervously, knowing they’d have to be very careful.

            First, however, Gary looked at a sleeping vampire with a survival knife in his belt.  He slowly knelt next to the vampire, reached for the knife, and pulled it out.  A moment later, he held it up and looked at Penny.

            “You first,” he whispered as quietly as he could.

            Penny nodded and reached out her hand, covering her mouth with the other.  Gary held her hand as he pressed the tip of the knife to Penny’s palm.  Penny stifled her whimpers of pain with her hand as Gary carved a single straight line into her palm.  A moment later, he cut another line horizontally with the other, making the shape of a cross.

            When the shape was complete, Penny suddenly whimpered more, smoke drifting from her hand as the cross seemed to burn itself into her skin.  Gary grew concerned for a moment, but the moment passed quickly, leaving a brown cross in Penny’s hand, specks of blood surrounding it.  Gary hadn’t noticed Penny growing paler these past few weeks, but it seemed like he saw some of the color coming back to her face.

            When the moment passed, Penny pulled her other hand from her mouth, looked at the cross on her hand, then looked up at Gary and mouthed, “I’m okay.”

            Gary nodded, then repeated the process on his own hand.  A moment later, he had a cross burned into his own skin.  He immediately felt better, as if chains had lifted off his mind.   Nodding to Penny, they turned and looked towards the exit.

            He reached for Penny’s hand, she grasped his back, and together they made their way through the sleeping vampires, being as quiet as they possibly could.  In Gary’s other hand, he held the knife, just in case it helped.

###

The new mental world Alice stepped into was very different from Victor’s.  This world was an outdoor rave, with lights blaring and people dancing as the moon shone high above.  This was, no doubt, a younger vampire’s mind.  A lit up stage stood to Alice’s left, where a band played heavy metal.  The lead guitarist was a young man with dragon tattoos.  Alice wasn’t sure why, but she was certain that this was the vampire whose mind she was in.

            Before she could wonder about this, the world began to shake.  Alice still had her Katana formed from the image of a cross, making this vampire’s mind react.  Staring at the blade, still covered in red light from Alice’s rage, she could barely see her father’s cross reflectecd on the metal, and that image wreaked havoc on this mental world.  The dancers struggled to remain standing, and the vampire on stage fell to his knees.

            A moment later, Alice felt the elder vampires arrive just a few feet behind her.  Alice disappeared into the crowd, reaching her mind out for the red threads.  However, she could feel the elder vampires reaching their minds out, and suddenly the entire field of people parted, isolating Alice.  At the same time, the red threads were cut off from her, just as before.

            On stage the young vampire fell to the stage, convulsing.

            Unable to hide, Alice turned the red katana into a rifle and aimed it.  She fired, shooting all three elders.  The three vampires raised their hands and summoned walls, objects pulled into the mental world with the sheer power of their imagination.

            The gun, formed from the thought of a cross and infused with Alice’s rage at what they’d done, shattered each wall as it appeared.  The vampires backed up as the walls they summoned to defend themselves shattered.   For a moment, Alice seemed to have the advantage.

            Then Victor shouted, “Hold her!”

            Suddenly the partygoers, little more than mental constructs, converged on Alice, reaching their hands out.  Alice shifted the gun to a katana and swung widely, causing the constructs to fade from existence as the sword passed through them.  As Victor, Fara, and Harold pursued, Alice stabbed her sword down again and opened another rift in the ground that she quickly jumped into.

            This time Alice landed in someone’s house.  It was an old house with plain, unpainted wooden walls, mold everywhere, and cobwebs in the corners.  Alice quickly fled down a hallway, the three vampire elders dropping down a moment later.

            “I must say, Alice,” said Victor, looking down the hallways for her.  “I should be angry, but I’m too impressed.  Where did you learn to navigate mental worlds like this?”

            “Does it matter?” asked Fara angrily.

            “For once,” said Harold.  “I agree with Fara.  We’ll question our good fortune when she’s under our control.”

            “Very well,” said Victor.

            Alice, meanwhile, hadn’t listened to the entire conversation.  She’d simply run as far away from the vampires as she could.  Sensing the red threads at the edge of this world, she made a beeline for it.

            Before she could get very far, something slammed into her from the side, knocking her against the wall.  She fell to the floor, her katana slipping from her hand.  Then a large hand grabbed her by the front of her uniform and dragged her away.  Alice looked up to see a large man, his features hidden in shadow, who spoke with slow, disjointed words.”

            “Hooow daaare…yoooou….tryyy…too…get awaaay…from meeeeeeee,” he said, moaning.

            Alice struggled to remove his hand, and as she did, she heard a door open violently.  Alice looked up as she was dragged across the floor to see a closet at the end of the hall.  Alice saw someone tied up and gagged inside that closet, just lying there passively.  It was another human who’d just given up.

            “Geeet…baaack…iiiiiin…theeeeere….”

            Alice looked back to her Katana, getting farther and farther away.  Remembering that this was a mental world, she closed her eyes and thought.  It was a sword made with her father’s cross and infused with her anger.  It was an idea.  More than that was Alice’s idea.

            She opened her eyes, and the katana was in her hand again.  She stabbed the hulking figure next to her, making it cry out with a hideous wail as it let go of her hand.

            “There!” cried Victor.

            Alice didn’t waste time.  She got up and ran from the figure, which began pursuing her.  Down another hallway, she saw the vampire elders zeroing in on her location.  Alice ran as fast as she could until she slammed against the far wall.  She searched for a thread, passed over one that lacked a basement, and then pulled one out of the wall, letting it wrap around her hand.  Alice then yanked herself out of this world and into the next one, Victor’s hand reaching for empty air.

###

Penny and Gary went down the stairs one step at a time.  There was so little room for all these vampires that some even slept on the stairs.  The two of them made their way down one foot after the other, careful not to step on any sleeping monsters.

            “Just down the stairs,” Gary whispered.  “Then across the great hall, and we’ll be out into the sunlight.”

            Penny wondered if there really was any sunlight out there.  This entire mansion was dark, and Penny could barely see the steps to avoid stepping on anything.

            Suddenly the stair under Gary’s foot began to creak, making the pair of them freeze nervously.  They looked around, but not one of the vampires or human thralls stirred.  Penny looked back to Gary, who hesitated.  He carefully moved his foot to a different part of the stairs.  When the stairs stopped creaking, he nodded, and they kept going down slower than before.

            Soon, they reached the bottom of the stairs.  Spread out before them, across the mansion’s great hall, lay enough vampires and human thralls to cover the whole floor.  The two of them stared for a moment, intimidated by the sheer number of them.

            “Just the great hall,” whispered Penny.  “Then the door.”

            She looked at Gary, and he nodded.  A moment later, they slowly moved forward once again.

###

This time Alice landed on a tropical beach with palm trees.  It was, of course, a night, but this time Alice saw a red and green aurora borealis in the sky.  It was a breathtaking sight, but Alice didn’t stop to admire the view and quickly darted into the forest of palm trees as this mental world began to shake, the sand shifting below her feet.

            She also heard the three vampire elders appear on the beach, and they quickly pursued her.  Again Alice tried to sense for the red threads, and again they were shut off from her.  These Elders just had too much control.  That meant another trip to a mental basement.

            Before Alice could stab her katana into the ground, a woman came into view, no doubt the vampire whose mind Alice was in.  This woman wore a tropical sundress and carried a pirate cutlass.  This vampire seemed to have better resistance to Alice’s mental weapon as she swung at Alice, who defended with the red glowing Katana.  As the two blades collided, Alice’s sword went straight through the others and into the vampire’s torso.  As the katana passed through the vampire’s flesh, the monster fell backward, appearing in her vampire form.

            Suddenly the entire mental world shook violently, making even the pursuing elder vampires unsteady.  Alice had to grab a nearby tree to stay standing, and the vampire she’d cut lay on the ground, convulsing.  When the Elders started running towards Alice again, she let herself fall to the ground with her katana pointed straight down.  When her katana went into the ground, another rift opened, and Alice turned, rolling into it.

            This time Alice fell to a crouch into a dark library, all the books covered in dust and cobwebs.  The shelves, benches, and windows were very plainly decorated.  Outside those windows, Alice saw pitch darkness.

            Alice fled quickly, turning a corner to hide from the vampires when they inevitably jumped down here.  Suddenly Alice ran into something stringy and sticky.  It proved to be a gigantic spiderweb, holding her arms in place as Alice struggled, trying to move her katana to cut the web.

            As she struggled, she heard the elders land, but a moment later, she heard something that chilled her to the core.  A series of quick taps sounded from the shelves, and Alice prayed that it wasn’t what she thought it was.  Sadly, it was exactly what she feared.

            Giant spiders, each the size of a large dog, crawled around the shelves towards the web Alice was stuck on.  Their shells were black, and their mandibles clacked menacingly as they converged on her location.  Alice resisted the urge to struggle more frantically and risk entangling herself further.  She finally managed to move the katana to cut some of the webs, then cut more until she dropped down.  She swiped at a spider that jumped at her, then dodged as another jumped at her.

            She ran through the shelves, cutting webs out of her way, though they seemed to restore themselves behind her as she went.  She looked back and saw Victor, Fara, and Harrold following, waving their hands to clear away the webs.  This did force them to go slower, but they were still catching up to Alice.

            Alice swung away with the Katana, going as fast as she could to the edge of this world.  Suddenly, however, the spiders started shooting webs from their abdomens directly at Alice, holding her in place.  Alice swung the katana, cutting those threads off, but more threads came, slowing her down.

            As she cut desperately, more threads coming in to replace them, she saw something hanging in mid air down a row of bookshelves.  Alice quickly realized it was a person wrapped head to toe in webbing and suspended by the thickest spiderweb yet.

            At that moment, a spider jumped on her back, biting her neck.  Alice screamed from the pain and stabbed the katana over her shoulder, making the spider fall.  Through the searing pain in her shoulder, Alice clenched her eyes.  It’s just an idea, she thought desperately.  It’s just an idea.  It’s not real.  She felt the pain lessen, then continued cutting her way through the webs.

            Alice cut more frantically than before, even as more spiders shot more webs to slow her down.  She began panting, her katana getting stuck a few times.  Slowly but surely, she made her way to the far wall, where a few giant spiders waited.

            Alice cut some more threads away, cut a few spiders that jumped at her, cut down the spiders on the wall, then placed her hand there.  As she felt a few spiders attach lines to her and try to pull her back with their legs, she whimpered, holding herself in place as hard as she could as she sought a red thread.

            She found one, and it burst through the wall to wrap around her hand. 

            Just as the spiders were about to pull her away from the wall and into the waiting hands of the vampire elders, Alice yanked with all her strength and pulled herself into the next mind.

###

Gary held Penny’s hand as they moved through the great hall, vampires and human thralls covering nearly every inch of the floor.  Their progress was slow, but they were now halfway across the massive room.  Gary was hopeful they’d make it to the exit until Penny stopped.  Gary turned to ask her what was wrong, her hand still grasped in his, but then he saw what Penny was looking at.

            On the floor, next to a vampire, lay a little girl about twelve or thirteen years old.  Gary felt a chill seeing that.  On some level, he knew this happened.  He’d known that vampires took Alice’s brother near that age, but seeing it in person, especially the bite marks on the girl’s wrist, made him feel sick.  Penny looked at the child with a tremendous swell of pity, then looked up at Gary.

            Gary shook his head, whispering, “We can’t risk it.  If she’s under the vampire's control, she’ll scream and wake the others.  Besides, we don’t know how long Alice can buy us time.”

            Penny looked in pain, water forming under her eyes, “She’s just a child.”

            “I know,” Gary whispered.  “I know, but the best way to help her is to get out of here and bring the Night Hunters back.  They can help her and every person here.  Okay?”

            Penny, closing her eyes, nodded reluctantly and let Gary lead her away by the hand.  They continued, getting closer and closer to the exit.

###

Alice landed in snow filled forest, sitting under a mountain and, of course, lit by a bright full moon.  Alice couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen snow but didn’t think too hard about it.  As before, this mental world began to shake with the presence of Alice’s cross made mental weapon.  Alice fled behind a huge, snow-covered boulder before the three elder vampires entered this world.  Alice kept running for a moment, snow shifting beneath her feet from the shaking, until she heard Victor’s voice loud clear.

            “Stop!”

            Alice stopped running and quickly backed against a tree.  Cautiously, she moved to her left and peered around the boulder between her and the vampires.  Two of the elder vampires were looking at Victor in frustration, but Victor himself looked around at the forest suspiciously.

            “No, come on,” Alice whispered.  “Keep chasing me.”

            “What’s the matter with you?” demanded Fara.  “She’s getting away.”

            A moment later, the vampire whose mind this was appeared and knelt before the elders.  She appeared as a young woman with red hair, a fur-lined jacket, and a fuzzy hat.  Her entire body also trembled, unable to take the presence of a cross in her mind.

            “M…My lord,” she said.  “May…may I ask what’s going on?”

            “Answer her,” said Fara.

            Victor kept looking around the landscape suspiciously, “Young Alice is quite adept at navigating the mindscape, isn’t she?  Too adept, I’d say.”

            “What does it matter?!” demanded Fara.  “The Crucivire is essential to our plans, and she’s the easiest way to lure him in!”

            As they talked, Alice turned her red katana into a glowing red rifle.

            “No,” said Harold, his face thoughtful.  “Victor is right.  Where did Alice learn to protect herself in the mental world?  The Night Hunters wouldn’t dare risk bringing psychics to Saint Vivia lest we turn them into vampires.  For that matter, how were the Night Hunters protecting her from Victor in the first place?  And why would that protection fail now?”

            “Surely you don’t think she exposed herself to us deliberately?” asked Fara.  “What could she possibly…”

            Fara screamed as Alice shot her, knocking her to the ground and making her shriek.  Alice kept firing, trying to inflict as much mental pain as possible, but Victor and Harold summoned walls as they did before.  The Walls shattered as the bullets hit them, but Victor had a suspicious look in his eyes, until he was struck with a sudden realization.

            “A distraction,” he whispered.

            He summoned one more wall, and when Alice shattered this one with a mental bullet, Victor was nowhere to be seen.

            “No!” cried Alice.

###

Victor woke up in the real world, his glamour remaining down, and he immediately realized that the girl was gone.  Looking down at the floor, the man who’d been Alice’s partner was also gone.  Seeing this, Victor’s vampiric face contorted with rage, and he screamed louder and clear for the whole mansion to hear.

            “They’re escaping!”

###

Penny And Gary were just a few feet away from the front door, tentatively reaching for the handle, when they heard Victor’s scream.

            “They’re escaping!”

            The vampires they’d just passed by woke up, standing quickly.

            “Go!” cried Gary.

            He grabbed the door handle and yanked the door open.  Vampires pursued, catching up quickly with their superior speed.  When the door was open just enough, Gary pushed Penny through and followed right behind.

            At that moment, two vampires reached for the two of them.  One of them got his hand near Penny’s neck, but his hand entered the sunlight, and it began to burn, smoke drifting off it.  That vampire pulled his hand back immediately, cradling his hand in pain.  The second vampire caught onto the back of Gary’s shirt right before he could enter the light.  As Penny ran forward, Gary was pulled back.

            Penny, out in the courtyard sunlight, realized Gary wasn’t next to her, and she turned around.  She saw Gary at the edge of the door, vampires holding him in place.  He made a futile effort to stab one of the vampires with the survival knife he’d stolen, but it was taken from him easily.  Penny couldn’t help but look on in horror, too scared to try and help him but too reluctant to leave him behind.  Soon the vampires started dragging him back.

            “What are you waiting for!” cried Gary as he made a futile effort to break free.  “Get out of here!  Get back to Alice!  She’s waiting for you!  Run!”

            As Gary disappeared into the mass of Vampires, who glared at Penny threateningly, Penny felt tears well up under her eyes.  Clenching her fists, she turned and ran as fast as she could.

            Moments later, Victor, Fara, and Harold arrived at the door, vampires parting to let them pass, including one who cradled his burnt hand.  The vampire elders put their glamours up, but that didn’t hide the absolute rage on their faces.  A few vampires had tried to send their human thralls after Penny, but the humans didn’t get five feet before they became confused, their eyes blurry.  They complained that the sun was too bright, but Lord Victor ignored them.

            The elder vampire watched as Penny disappeared into the distance, slipping out the gate and into the forest.  Victor clenched his fists, seething, before turning around and looking at Gary Frasier, who was being held against the wall.  Gary looked up at the vampire defiantly, and Victor crossed his arms.

            “Well, now,” said Victor.  “What are we going to do about this?”