— Faelyn Sylsalor, “A History of Necrophages,” page 124
Graveyards weren’t so eerie in the daylight. In fact, they almost looked peaceful.
They were just rows of weathered stones with names and dates etched into them. It would have been easy to forget what lay beneath the ground, to see the graveyard as nothing more than a quiet resting place. But it was a different story during the night. Emily had always thought there was something deeply unsettling about walking above a sea of corpses. The idea that, at any moment, bony fingers could burst through the dirt and drag her down with them sent an involuntary shiver up her spine. She knew that wouldn’t happen, necromancy was forbidden in much of Ageria, as well as frowned upon in just about every religion. But she doubted she would ever cross paths with an actual undead anytime soon. Not that the dead were her problem today.
Her concern wasn’t with the ones buried beneath the soil, it was with the monsters mingling above.
Ghouls.
And there were a lot of them.
Emily crouched behind a wide headstone, her finger hovering over the trigger of her gun.
The creatures were humanoid. Their bloated gray skin was marred with red patches and bulging veins. Their bloodshot eyes sat in their sunken sockets, and their fangs were jagged and elongated, almost like a saber-toothed tiger’s. Their ears were twisted and pointed, like an elf’s. But what unsettled Emily most was the way they moved. They skulked on all fours, twitching, and groaning, their elongated claws scraping against the ground. Sharp bony protrusions jutted from their elbows
Emily took a deep breath. She knew Mina was watching her progress. She needed to be thorough, to show Mina she had learned. First, Emily did a quick scan of the area. The graveyard had been devastated. The ground was torn up, with fresh mounds of dirt piled high where the graves had been. That was where they were laying their eggs, muddled with disemboweled remains and manure. She needed to leave those alone, for now. Ghouls were protective of their young. A few would always stay behind to guard the nest while the rest attacked the intruder. If she played this right, she could use that to her advantage and thin their numbers before facing the ones near the eggs.
Before Emily could finish a plan, a guttural growl ripped through the air. She barely had time to react before a ghoul lunged at her.
Emily twisted to the side and fired. The shot ran out through the graveyard as the bullet ripped through the ghoul’s ribs. It crashed against a gravestone, and let out a whimper. Emily fired again, and the bullet slammed into its skull.
For a brief moment, Emily just stood there, her breath ragged. It had happened so fast. Her body had reacted before her mind had even processed the attack. And the rush that followed was intoxicating.
She smirked. She had just killed a monster!
But then a chorus of hungry growls and shrieks filled the air as the rest of the nest stirred. Bloodshot eyes snapped toward her, nostrils flaring as they caught the scent of fresh blood. She had just alerted the entire graveyard.
Emily exhaled sharply, gripping her pistol as the ghouls began to move. The hunt had begun.
She barely had a second to breathe before the first of them lunged. A bullet tore through its chest, sending it staggering back with a wet, gurgling shriek.
Five more were incoming.
Another bullet exploded through one of the creature’s temples, splattering its brains across a nearby headstone.
Emily’s next shot went wide. So did the other.
Her stomach twisted into a knot as the remaining three were on her.
Emily ducked as a claw swiped at her right. She darted backward and aimed. The revolver clicked.
It was empty, and she didn’t have time to reload.
She drew her second gun and fired twice into the nearest ghoul. The first bullet slammed into its ribs, the second through its eye socket.
The remaining two were still on her.
No, there were five again. Three more had crawled out from a dug-up grave.
Emily backed into a headstone and nearly tripped. She needed to pay more attention to her surroundings and focus on her footwork.
One of the ghouls lunged, and Emily danced behind the headstone. She twisted and pivoted, using the uneven terrain to her advantage. Claws slashed inches from her face, but she ducked beneath them. Another ghoul lunged, and she stepped to the side, letting it stumble past before leaping onto another headstone. She fired into its skull and twirled away as another ghoul snapped its jaws at her. Another aimed for her legs, and Emily had to leap up onto the headstone to avoid it. She launched herself off of it and landed lightly on her feet.
They weren’t giving up, and there were too many of them. All she needed was a second to reload her other revolver, but the ghouls weren’t giving it to her. She needed to frighten them off, and she knew exactly how to do it.
Emily whirled around, and twisted her fingers into a runic gesture. Fire arched around her like a protective wave. The ghouls leaped away from the heat, hissing and screeching, and at that moment Emily quickly reloaded her guns. She swapped hands, shifting her gun to her left, and with her right, she reached over her shoulder. The sword slid free as her scabbard snapped open.
The arc of fire faded, and one of the ghouls seized the moment to lunge at her, but it’s momentum carried it right into her blade. The silver-edged steel, slick with necrophage oil, bit deep. The creature let out an unholy scream as its flesh began to melt, the oil sizzling like acid against its diseased skin.
Another was on Emily immediately. She raised her sword just in time to block its fangs. Its teeth clamped down on the flat of the blade, saliva bubbling between its twisted lips. The necrophage oil burned its gums, but it wasn’t enough to deter it.
Emily fired into its stomach, and the ghoul let out a strangled gurgle, blood spilling from its mouth as it crumpled backward.
Emily stepped away, panting. Her body was tingling, her limbs flaring with energy. She had a grin on her face that she couldn’t break. This was… fun.
The next attack came faster than she could react. The ghoul's fangs clamped onto her braces, and Emily dropped her weapons to launch a fireball directly into the monster’s face. Its skin blistered as the flames ate at its flesh.
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Two more ghouls lunged at once, and Emily threw herself to the ground, barely avoiding the dual slashes aimed at her throat. She rolled and scrambled to her feet just as another ghoul rushed her.
She was too close to dodge and instead launched fire from her fingertips to scorch the beast.
Emily rolled, ducked, and dove out of the way, narrowly avoiding death as her coat was sliced and torn. Her heart was pounding as she sprayed fire and embers at the monsters. She couldn’t rely on it though. She needed her weapons.
A surge of energy rushed through her nervous system, and as she held her hands out toward her fallen tools, they were pulled back into her grasp.
The ghoul closest to her snarled like a dog with rabies. She waited until it was closer, then jumped to the side and pivoted out of the way of the ghoul’s slash. She finished the spin as the creature brushed past her, and sliced it across its back. The ghoul thrashed around on the ground, howling horribly from the burning pain inflicted by the necrophage oil. Its skin melted and bubbled like an overcooked steak sizzling on the stove. It suddenly leaped at Emily, viciously gnashing its crooked teeth inches from her chest. She fired from the hip and knocked the ghoul off course. It fell into the arc of her sword, and its head rolled across the cemetery, a torrent of blood gushing from its neck.
Emily smirked as she backed up, keeping just out of reach of the snarling horde. This wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be. Her heart was still pounding, and adrenaline was coursing through her veins, but she wasn’t overwhelmed. Not yet. The ghouls guarding the nests had thinned their numbers enough for her to handle what remained. Facing a hoard of monsters should have terrified her, but thanks to Mina’s training, she remained calm. Violet had even helped a few times by conducting an army of training dummies for Emily to practice against. So she had some experience with how to handle fighting outnumbered.
She could do this.
“Remember to be patient,” Mina’s voice rang out from above. She stood atop the cemetery wall, leaning against the iron spikes. Her rifle was in her hands. “Wait for the right moment to strike.”
Emily nodded, and adjusted her stance, readying herself for the next attack.
Then, her foot caught on something.
A corpse.
She lurched backward and hit the ground hard. The ghouls wasted no time and pounced on her.
Panic flashed through Emily, and heat rushed through her veins. Flames slithered from her fingertips to the silver of her sword, and fire erupted from the blade in a sweeping arc. The ghouls scattered away, snarling as their flesh sizzled where the fire licked them.
Emily pushed herself up and fired three shots in quick succession. Two ghouls dropped, their skulls bursting like overripe fruit. One ghoul took a blade to the throat, another to the eye. Emily twisted, bringing her sword down against a third. The blade carved through its shoulder, splitting open a swollen sac of pus beneath its skin. A horrid stench erupted from the wound that was somehow worse than their usual reek. Emily ripped her blade free and drove it through the creature’s sternum, twisting as she pulled back. Its chest caved inward with a sickening crunch, and it crumpled to the ground. With another twist, she brought up her forearm, and a ghoul's teeth shattered against her hardened bracers.
BANG!
The creature’s head erupted, skull fragments and shredded flesh splattering across the nearest headstone. Its body collapsed with blood pouring from the ragged stump of its neck.
Emily was moving like a dancer, her sword nothing more than a blur of silver and fire. The air rang violently with gunshots. Blood sprayed against the headstones.
She sidestepped a ghoul, severing its arm at the elbow before driving her sword through its chest. Another slashed at her, but she ducked, spun, and sliced its hamstring, sending it sprawling into the dirt before finishing it off with a bullet to the skull.
Her muscles were burning, and it was getting harder to breathe. She was hot and slick with sweat, but she couldn’t stop.
She turned to one of the few remaining ghouls and hurled a fireball at it. It shrieked as the blaze consumed it, its skin blistering. Emily then raised her sword to deliver the killing blow, only for a force to push her into the flaming ghoul.
She barely caught herself, dropping her weapons and twisting away from the monster just in time. Her cloak had ripped from the back, but the padded vest had absorbed the slash from the ghoul behind her. It had risen onto its hind legs, its twisted spine cracking as it stretched itself tall.
Emily’s heart pounded against her ribs. Her lungs were burning. When the ghoul lunged for her she rolled aside, trying to put distance between them. Its claws scraped against her bracer, and Emily pushed the ghoul away telekinetically. It stumbled between Emily and her weapons, and an idea came to mind as she saw the silver glint of her sword. She reached out for it with her mind, and as the ghoul prepared to pounce on her again, the sword ripped from the dirt and flew straight through the monster’s chest.
The ghoul staggered forward, and Emily twisted around it. The hilt slapped into her outstretched hand, and with a scream, the blade was ripped free. Blood splattered across her face as she put all of her remaining strength into a final swing. The sword whistled through the air, and the ghoul’s head flew in a slow arc before landing with a dull thud. Its body swayed, collapsing in on itself before falling limp at her feet.
Emily dropped to her hands and knees, gasping for breath. Every muscle in her body screamed in agony. Her arms trembled. Sweat dripped from her chin.
It was over.
Mina climbed down, and moved over to Emily, helping her to her feet.
“So… did I pass?” Emily asked through her ragged breathing.
Mina smirked, slinging her rifle over her shoulder. “You didn’t die, did you?”
Emily snorted. “That’s a low bar.”
“What about your hands? How do they feel?”
Emily paused and looked down at them. The bracers covered her palms, so it was hard to see if there was any light. She slipped one-off, and, not to her surprise, there was a faint crack of light against her skin. It only made sense. She was exhausted now, all her energy was burnt up. Any more magic would start causing her skin to crack again. “They feel fine,” she said.
“And how do you feel?”
Emily smirked and gave a weak chuckle. “Great…”
“Well then,” Mina said, “all that’s left is to burn the nest.”
Emily swallowed, glancing out at the ruin before her. The graveyard was a bloodbath. Dark, coagulated ichor pooled in the dirt, mixing with the rainwater and blood. Severed limbs and shattered bones littered the space between headstones. The ghouls’ corpses were torn apart, burned, and still twitching.
A few feet away, was the body she had tripped over. The hunter who had tried before her. All he had brought with him was a rifle. There were no blades found on his corpse. Just a gun and whatever misguided confidence had sent him marching into this hell alone. He had never stood a chance.
But she had. She had fought them all and won. All those grueling nights of training, the moaning, groaning, pushing through the exhaustion and the unbearable pain in her muscles, it had all been leading her to this. Never, not in her wildest dreams, had she thought she would make it this far. And yet, here she was.
Emily stalked through the wreckage. The nests weren’t hard to find, the piles of bile-streaked rotting carcasses, and half-eaten remains twisted among the churned-up graves. The scent alone made her stomach churn. With a flair of magic, they were set ablaze. If even a single egg survived, it wouldn’t be long before the infestation started all over again.
From nearby, a wet gurgle sounded.
“God damn it,” she groaned, turning to face it.
One of the ghouls was still alive. Barely. It was missing its lower half, intestines spilling from its torn-open abdomen, its arms weakly clawing at the ground as it tried to drag itself away. A pathetic, wheezing whimper rasped from its throat.
Emily stared at it. It was dying. There was no fight left in it. But still, some small part of her hesitated. It wasn’t human, but there was something painfully human about the way it trembled, the way its ruined body struggled against its inevitable fate.
“It’s not suffering,” Mina said, walking up behind her. “It’s waiting.”
Emily glanced at her.
“Monsters don’t beg, Emily. They don’t plead. That thing would still rip you apart if it had the strength.” She tilted her head toward the ghoul. “So put it down.”
Emily glanced back at the monster and raised her gun. With one pull of the trigger, it went limp.
It was done. She had taken the next step forward, the biggest step since she had first picked up a sword. She was officially a monster hunter now. And one day, she would be more than that. One day, she would be ready. The Queen of Vampires was still out there, waiting for her. Today, Emily had survived the ghouls. She had proven herself. But she still had a long way to go.
“Good job,” Mina said proudly, patting her on the shoulder.
“Thanks,” she replied tiredly. “You know… since I did a good job, I deserve just a little break, right? Celebrate, you know?”
Mina narrowed her eyes.
“Just for tonight?”
“Emily.”
“Come on, I haven’t been able to spend time with Lux for weeks. I’ve been too busy. I’ve earned at least a night off.”
Mina let out a long sigh. “... fine. So long as you’re back before dark.”
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