The scream that rung out through the mansion was unmistakable. Misha's ears shot straight up and she turned away from the conversation between Veldin and this man called Remerick. She sprinted out of the door of the room, the two men following not far behind.

"What's happening?! Where’re Aliana and Grey?!" Misha shouted, looking down halls and through open doors for any sign of her missing friends.

"Do you expect I should know?!" Veldin snapped back at her as he ran. "That shout came from above us!"

Misha forced herself to a stop, skidding across the wooden floor as she did. She turned to face Remerick. "What did you mean by what you said about Lady Elcevier?"

Remerick looked to still be in a state of bewilderment as he tried to catch up on everything that had happened in these past few moments. "I... That—that woman—she—" he stumbled over his words as he tried to get them all out at once, finally managing, "She's not a person, she's a monster disguised as one, she–"

Veldin stepped before Remerick, glaring fiercely at him. "She is nothing of the sort! You speak lies about her."

Remerick was taken aback, visibly distraught. "What—Veldin, I–" He stopped and shook his head. "I don't know what she's told you, but you can't truly be on her side..."

"Of course I can, when I've no knowledge of who you are or what proof you should have to this claim! Why should I trust what you have to say?"

Remerick said nothing. The look on his face was hurt all over again, just as he'd been when Veldin first pushed him away. Misha grabbed at Veldin’s coat to get his attention. "We can discuss this later! We need to find Aliana!"

There was hardly any need to, however, as the three had just nearly come upon the second-floor balcony, where the stairs to the floors above and below were in view. As soon as Misha turned, she spotted Aliana, sprinting as if her very life depended on it, running down the staircase from the top floor. A moment later, Grey came barreling around the same corner Aliana had appeared from, running as fast as his four legs would carry him and quickly overtaking Aliana. His mouth and fangs were covered with blood.

"Aliana!" Misha called out. "What's happened?!"

"Elc—Elce—" Aliana struggled between panting breaths as she and Grey neared the bottom of the staircase to join the others. "Elcevier has Seraphim!"

"What?!" Misha turned her head to see Veldin standing beside her, focused on Aliana. A mixture of emotions painted his face, and he looked about to say something. But then, he stopped, and Misha—all of the group present, in fact—realized the figure of Lady Elcevier had appeared at the top of the stairs where Aliana and Grey had come from.

She stood there, looking down at the others from the staircase, a forlorn expression on her face. One arm had been injured, the source of the blood on Grey. But even beneath the blood that coated the underside of her arm and stained her white dress, Misha could see the wound already closing before her very eyes. In Lady Elcevier's hand, she held something. It was difficult for Misha to understand at first, but then she realized it was some sort of creature squirming about. A reptilian creature with shining white scales.

"L... Lady Elcevier?" Veldin asked, a tremble in his voice. "What is happening? Are you hurt?"

Lady Elcevier's attention fell onto Veldin, then to each member of the group in turn, finally reaching Remerick. "You're awake..."

Remerick reached a hand towards the side of his waist, but upon finding nothing there, said, "You took my sword."

"I intended to help you—"

"Help me?!" Remerick shouted. "Help me?! After you attacked me?! After you've taken Veldin's memory?! After you nearly killed him?!"

Veldin turned to glare at Remerick once more. "Be quiet! You've no right to speak such lies about—"

Aliana grabbed Veldin by the shoulder, forcefully turning him around to face her, and pointed at the winged creature in Lady Elcevier's hand. "Then why does she have Seraphim?! Why did she attack me?!"

"I did not—" Lady Elcevier began.

"I only made it back here to all of you because Grey saved me!"

Grey stood snarling up at Lady Elcevier, fur standing on end. It was true. Aliana’s words were true.

Lady Elcevier shook her head. "I would not have hurt you, Aliana."

"But you needed to do something to keep her silent, didn't you?" Remerick cut in.

There was a tense silence as the group each stared at Lady Elcevier, Aliana's eyes drawn to the creature that, apparently, was the Seraphim sword. The creature squirmed slightly in Lady Elcevier's grip, but could not free itself.

"I..." Lady Elcevier began. "Please, you all must understand. I have only wanted to help."

"You've not done anything wrong." Veldin sounded desperate. "You haven't, Lady Elcevier... Have you? This is a misunderstanding, is it not?"

Lady Elcevier frowned as she looked at Veldin. "I never wanted to hurt you, dear Veldin."

"You have not—"

"Of course I have. I have hurt many of you... But all I wish is to help you all. Please. If I can restore the scale, or if I can utilize Seraphim's power in its place, then I can fix everything that has happened."

Misha began to piece the details together, and felt her stomach drop when she did. "You stole Seraphim to… to replace the scale?"

"You—what?!" Aliana looked horrified. "Give them back! Give them back to me, please!"

Seraphim squirmed in Lady Elcevier's grasp and looked out at Aliana, but Lady Elcevier held the creature close to her chest and prevented it from escaping, saying, "I cannot... Not yet. Please, understand—"

"There's nothing to understand! You don’t know what you’ve done!"

"I assure you, Aliana, I have meant only the best for everyone." She took a step back. "If you all will continue to help me, all of this can be resolved. The Orchard Forest can be saved, I can return Seraphim, I can remove your curse—"

"And Veldin's memories?" Remerick demanded, catching Veldin's attention. "You'll allow him to remember once you're done getting what you need from us, is that right?"

Veldin shook his head. "That's... Lady Elcevier hasn't..." He turned to Lady Elcevier at the top of the stairs. "You... haven't..."

Lady Elcevier and Veldin locked eyes. She held out a hand. "If... If you will still help me..."

Veldin fell silent. He took a slow and hesitant step back, away from the staircase.

Lady Elcevier's eyes filled with sorrow, and she nodded. "I understand..." Then, there was a horrid tearing sound that sent a shiver down Misha’s spine, and she flinched when she saw what it was. Of its own accord, the skin ripped away from Lady Elcevier's back above her low-back dress, stretching out into huge, bat-like wings and leaving patches of red beneath them.

"No… No, wait!" Aliana shouted out. But in that instant, the front doors of the mansion opened of their own accord, and Lady Elcevier took flight. She descended past the group before any of them could reach her to do anything, and she was gone through the door. Grey barked and took off running after her, followed by Misha and Aliana. By the time the three of them reached the doors to the outside, however, Misha could only spot a dark shape in the sky that quickly vanished into the black of night and the rumbling clouds above.

Aliana, tears streaming down her cheeks, did not stop at the doorway, running out into the rain. “Seraphim!” she screamed, finally coming to a stop out in the open valley. “Seraphim!” She dropped to her knees in the dirt, lowering her face into her hands.

Misha could only watch, knowing full well there was nothing she could do or say to help. She took in a deep breath, letting it out as a heavy sigh. This had been a lie. All of this had been a lie—or perhaps not that, exactly, but trickery nonetheless. Misha stepped out into the rain, approaching her friend and placing a hand on her shoulder. “Aliana. We should go inside.”

Aliana shook her head and lowered her hands. “Seraphim was right there. I could have saved them, I…” She clenched a hand and brought it down on the ground before her, sending bits of mud and water droplets flying about. “Seraphim’s gone! Seraphim’s gone because of her!”

Misha tried to find an answer, but came up with nothing, and gently repeated, “We should go inside.”

She turned, stepping back into the foyer of the mansion and making sure Aliana—moving slowly with heavy movements, her eyes downcast to the ground—followed her. Remerick was coming down the stairs now to meet the others, though Veldin had lingered at the middle floor’s balcony. He stared down at the doors but did not seem to look at anything in particular.

“She’s already escaped,” Misha said, though she expected that was obvious.

Remerick nodded. "There would have been nothing we could do to stop her. I know that well enough from experience."

Misha thought back to everything Elcevier had said. Then she directed a question to Veldin. "What broke the scale?"

Veldin did not answer.

"Veldin," Misha said. "What broke the scale?"

Still no answer.

"What is Elcevier? Did she do this?"

"I did not witness the scale’s shattering," Veldin answered at last, his voice low and grim. "However... It was in her possession when it was whole."

"You knew. You knew this whole time."

"That... is complicated to answer."

Aliana's voice suddenly joined the conversation as she came up behind Misha. "I don't see how it can be. You have to be stupid not to have noticed, and you’re anything but that, aren’t you?"

Remerick shuffled about, suddenly visibly uncomfortable as he switched his attention from Misha and Aliana to Veldin. He looked about to say something, but Veldin interrupted. "Check for the scale shards."

"The..." Aliana’s eyes went wide. Misha’s thoughts and focus dropped the conversation at hand, fixing on the number of doors and hallways in the mansion as she understood what exactly Veldin had meant.

She began running up the stairs, pausing only long enough to ask, "Where did she keep them?!"

Veldin did not take his eyes off the door. "Her study."

"Show me." When there was again no answer, Misha shouted, "Veldin, show me!"

Veldin stepped back from the staircase and turned, walking down one of the second floor's halls for Misha to follow.

---

A suffocating dread hung in the air. The mansion was filled with a silence broken only by Misha’s and Grey’s steps as they ran across the hardwood floors of the hallways. When Lady Elcevier’s study had turned up no sign of the shards, the two had taken the west wing of the mansion along with Remerick, while Aliana and Veldin had taken the east. Yet as Misha frantically tore open door after door of the mansion’s upper floors, opening drawers, throwing aside blankets, and searching under furniture, there was still nothing. The shards were gone.

As Misha’s part of the search came to its end, she returned to the mansion’s dining room where the group had arranged to meet. Perhaps, she hoped, one of the others found the shards. But she knew deep down that there was no point in holding out that hope.

“Where are they?!” The voice was Aliana’s, an unhinged scream laden with fury and desperation. When Misha heard it, she began sprinting alongside Grey through the dining room door. She entered just in time to see that Aliana was gripping Veldin by the coat collar, pulling him towards her.

Remerick, on the other side of the dining room’s table, leaped over it to force himself between the two, holding his arms out to block Aliana from approaching Veldin any further. Veldin took the chance to recoil from the both of them.

“Please, stop!” Remerick was shouting. “He doesn’t have them!”

Misha climbed up onto the dining room table from one of the chair’s and grabbed Aliana’s arm. “Aliana, stop, what’s going on?”

“You did this!” Aliana continued to scream at Veldin. “You knew what she was doing! You helped her! You have the scale shards, you’re hiding them for her!”

Veldin shook his head as if unable to form any proper words to answer with, and Remerick said, “Stop, you can’t just—“

“Stay out of this! What do you know about any of this?! We don’t know who you are, you were asleep this whole time while Elcevier was lying to us and using us for… For all of this! And now you’re defending this bastard?! You don’t know what he did!” Aliana shoved a hand against Remerick’s chest but he held firm in place.

“Aliana! Stop it!” Misha pulled at Aliana’s arm to get her attention while Grey circled the table to come stand by the group. Veldin kept his distance, stiff and pale, eyes darting about at each of the people present.

“Listen,” Misha continued, “I know, I understand, Aliana. I do. But we can’t just lash out like this. Remerick recognizes Veldin, and he knows about Lady Elcevier. I think we should stop and talk about this before we do anything. Please. We need to figure this out first, alright?”

Aliana clenched her hands, pulling her arm away from Misha. She backed up to lean back against the wall with her arms crossed, glare fixed on the floor. Veldin took his coat off, tossing it onto the table. “You can check. I don’t have them.”

Misha grabbed the coat, checking through the pockets. Veldin was telling the truth.

“I don’t undestand,” Misha said. “When would Lady Elcevier have the time to take the shards during all of that?”

Veldin took a seat in one of the chairs far away from Aliana, mouth drawn taut and eyes narrowed in a pained expression. “You saw for yourself the speed of her flight, how quickly she can move. Even if Grey put himself between her and Aliana, Lady Elcevier would have caught up had she wanted to. She was not chasing Aliana in the time when she made it to the stairs.”

She'd planned to run from the start, then. At least, that had been a backup plan on her mind.

Remerick sat down at the table as well, his right hand gripping the fingers on his left. He watched Aliana still, though periodically shifted to Veldin instead.

Misha pressed on. "Veldin. What is Lady Elcevier?"

"I... I do not know how to answer that."

"Liar," Aliana muttered, though the words were loud enough to be heard well anyway. Veldin glared at her.

"Remerick," Misha said, "do you know? You seemed to understand some of what's happened."

"Oh. I..." Remerick nodded. "I do, I suppose. The woman that you've known as Elcevier—well, that is her name, as far as I know, but... She is not a mortal. She is a vampire."

Aliana raised her gaze up from the ground when she heard that comment. "A… She's a vampire? They're—they're real?"

"Wait, what is a vampire?" Misha asked.

Remerick rubbed the back of his hand. "They're monsters, like I've said. People who make a pact with dark beings. The... I believe they're called the 'rotted stars.' Those people give up their humanity for power. They can no longer walk in the sunlight, and they survive on the blood of the living."

"But we've seen Lady Elcevier in the sunlight."

Veldin shook his head. "No… The windows are enchanted. They prevent true sunlight from entering the mansion.”

Aliana cut in to repeat, “And you knew all this time.”

Veldin made no attempt to defend himself.

Remerick cleared his throat, subtly declaring his intent to say more and bringing attention back to himself. Compared to the fury he had displayed earlier, and how quickly he had acted to defend Veldin, his posture and tone gave the impression of someone far more mild-mannered than Misha would have otherwise expected. “I don’t think… this is his fault. Not—not entirely, at least—“

“Don’t try to defend him!” Aliana snapped.

“Aliana,” Misha hissed, “please.”

Remerick had broken eye contact when Aliana had turned her anger on him this time, shoulders tense, but he continued, “It’s my fault that Veldin… That he ever came here to begin with. I brought him here.”

Aliana took a breath, steadying herself as Remerick continued. She sat down at the table now and listened.

“The two of us first met Elcevier around a year ago… There were rumors at first. Rumors that a monster was coming down from the mountains to abduct victims. For what, I don’t know, but most people assumed for her to eat them. It was… It was one thing to hear about people vanishing in other villages. Then it started happening in our own town.

“Once the attacks came that close, though, I… I don’t know. I thought that I might be able to do something about it, I suppose. I was worried that Veldin or I or someone else we care about would become a victim if something wasn’t done, so I suppose it was desperation more than anything. I set out after her. And… Veldin came along as well.”

“Did I?” Veldin asked softly.

Remerick nodded. “You… You wanted to make sure I would be safe.”

Veldin gave Remerick a questioning look.

“Eventually, we made it here after we found out about her mansion. I thought we’d cornered her with the daylight outside.”

“Lady Elcevier is more powerful than that,” Veldin said.

“I know that plenty well by now. Even trapped in her home, she was better than either of us in a fight.” Remerick’s words began to struggle as he said, “Sh… She… wounded you, Veldin. I thought—I—there was so much blood. I thought she’d killed you. I…” Remerick dropped his face into one hand. “I fled. I thought you were dead and I ran, I left you.”

Veldin said nothing, scratching the fingers of one hand against the table’s surface, so Misha took over that part instead. “It hardly sounds like you could have known. Veldin’s fine, though. He may not remember much, but he’s alive and well.”

Grey came around the dining room table to Remerick’s side, giving the man an investigative sniff. Remerick lifted his head and nodded to silently acknowledge Misha’s statement, scratching Grey behind one ear.

“Liessa and I’ve heard stories about vampires,” Aliana was saying, “but it never seemed like they were true… If all of those stories are real, then it’s a miracle she didn’t kill either of you right there.”

For a moment, anger returned to Veldin’s features. “Lady Elcevier has not killed anyone. She would not! She is a kind woman who has sought the shards of Opal’s scale to stop their threat and to—” He suddenly stopped himself then before he said anymore.

“To what?” Misha asked. “Was there another reason she was trying to find the shards?”

Veldin hesitated. “If… If she could master the scale’s power, she could cure any number of ailments. Purify anything. Just as she said. She has only had the good of others in mind.”

“A Dragon’s power can’t be mastered without their permission,” Aliana said, “and Opal would never allow her powers to be used by… By something like that.”

“She only wishes to help others!”

Misha cut in. “Yourself included?”

“I am hardly a priority.”

“You’re the most clever man that I know, Veldin. What has she done to you?”

Veldin’s hand gripped the edge of the table, and his jaw was set and tense. “It is true that I was injured when she found me, that much lines up. She has told me I was already in such a state when she found me. I had been near death, but she saved me. She… She allowed me to drink her blood.”

“She—what?!” Aliana sounded nothing short of horrified to hear that confession. “What do you mean? Her blood?”

“She is beyond a mortal being, yes. And with that comes a number of special properties imbued in her and even her blood. It strengthened me so that I could more readily recover from my injuries.”

“Veldin,” Remerick said, “you can’t—“

“I am fully aware that there are strains a vampire’s blood places on the mortal body. I needed to ingest her blood a number of times to properly recover, which in turn, has resulted in… certain dependencies on it.”

“Veldin, that will turn you into a monster!”

“A monster?” Misha asked, looking to Veldin.

Veldin nodded slowly. “That is correct. Over time, a vampire’s blood will turn a mortal’s body into something… stronger. But something that hungers for the blood of others.”

“Like that harpy,” Aliana cut in quietly, drawing Remerick’s attention. “You bit into her like you were going to rip her throat out. You were going to kill her like that.”

“I could be tended to after everything is resolved, my condition would be nothing Lady Elcevier could not handle with the scale!”

After what Aliana had said, Remerick’s attention had fallen once more to his own hands before him, a grim expression on his face. “There’s more to it than that, Veldin. I’ve learned plenty more about what she is in the year since that day. Vampires have mind-altering abilities. And victims who ingest their blood are the most susceptible.”

“But.. But she…” Veldin’s tone was growing weaker as he was backed into a corner.

“She confessed to it herself,” Aliana said. Grey made a growling noise as if contributing his own comment to the conversation.

“She…” Veldin stared first at his three companions, then at Remerick. He asked, “What is my name?”

Remerick took a moment to register the sudden question. “You are Veldin Wainright.”

“’Wainright’… And you are?”

“Remerick Callister.”

Veldin sighed. “Neither sound remotely familiar… Remerick. What am I to you?”

Remerick clasped the fingers of his right hand over his left tightly. “I, um… I’m not sure you’ll like to hear the answer to that right now, considering...”

“There are many things I am unhappy to hear at the moment.”

Remerick nodded. “We grew up together, under the same magic tutor. We were friends, and… and more than that. Before all of this happened, we were betrothed to be married.”

Misha briefly saw Aliana’s eyes widen at that comment, casting a skeptical glance at Veldin, but neither woman said anything.

Veldin thought that over. “How do I know you’re speaking the truth?” His voice shook somewhat.

“I guess I can’t prove that to you right away. But I’ll answer any questions you have. We can go home, if you’d like. I can show you where we live. Anything you’d like.”

“How did you… H-how did you end up here?”

“Well… I wanted to kill Elcevier.”

“On your own?”

“Things are… different when you think the man you love is dead. I wasn’t as concerned about the outcome this time… But she struck at me, and I think that’s when she did… whatever it is she’s done to me. From there, the next thing I can clearly remember is waking up and seeing you again.”

Veldin nodded, at a loss for words, now trembling. “I… A–a moment, please,” he forced the words out and stood from his seat, running out the door of the dining hall before more could be said.