Blood. Blood was everywhere.

  It coated the ceiling, pooled across the floor, and painted the clothes of my allies.

  The blood of vampires. The blood of humans.

  Heat rose through the chamber as the scent of iron thickened the air. The tunnel echoed with the sounds of inescapable violence.

  Trained swings met savage claws in brutal, arcing dances. One fell. One rose. Only to clash again with the next opponent like clockwork. Heads rolled across the stone like some grotesque Shakespearean tragedy, limbs dragged in their wake.

  At first, I thought we had the advantage.

  Our frontline pushed forward, carving a path, creating space for us in the rear. Blood splattered across our uniforms as we advanced step by step.

  I couldn’t pull the trigger.

  The carnage locked me in place. My mind froze, paralysed by the sheer scale of it. All I could do was move in sync with the others, marching forward mechanically.

  I had never heard gunfire in real life before.

  I couldn’t believe how loud it was.

  “Captain! Our frontline is thinning!” the woman who had held my arm earlier shouted from ahead. She was already locked in combat, her silver lance clashing violently against vampire claws.

  In front of me, the bodies of my allies began to fall. No, in reality I had begun stepping over them.

  Was I cursed?

  That was the only thought that repeated in my mind as I watched the horror unfold before me.

  “Get your head in the game, mate!” my Aussie shouted, smacking the back of my head.

  He was right.

  I couldn’t just stand there. My hesitation was getting people killed.

  I raised the pistol and fired.

  The shot was clumsy, weak, practically aimless.

  But it hit.

  The bullet tore into a vampire’s shoulder. It shrieked in agony, stumbling back before snapping its head toward me with a snarl.

  Before it could charge, another shot rang out. But this one was clean, straight through the heart.

  The vampire collapsed instantly.

  “Mate, you’ve been trained by an Inquisitor, remember?” the Aussie yelled, frustration clear in his voice. “Shoot to the heart!”

  I nodded.

  I could have told him I was aiming for the heart. That I just missed. But he wouldn’t believe that someone trained by an Inquisitor could fumble like that.

  So I kept my mouth shut.

  “Rear guard, move forward! Give the frontline time to recover!” the captain commanded, refusing to give up ground.

  The surviving frontliners staggered back

  past us, bloodied and breathing hard.

  And then we were pushed forward.

  My boots splashed through red water as I stepped into the space they had just vacated. My heart pounded so violently it felt like it was trying to escape my chest.

  Rows of horrifying figures surged forward at once. We were expected to quick-shot them on sight.

  I had no idea what I was doing.

  Yet strangely, the vampires seemed… thrown off around me. Their movements faltered when they approached. They hesitated, as if struggling to perceive me properly, unsure whether to strike.

  In those split seconds of confusion, I either landed a clean shot—

  —or someone else did it for me.

  The only explanation I could come up with was that, in some twisted way, they recognised me as kin. Not fully. But enough.

  And right now, that was saving my life.

  I kept firing until the last of my Aussie pal’s spare magazines ran dry. The click of an empty chamber felt louder than the gunfire had.

  I was forced to fall back.

  “Get behind me, mate!” he shouted.

  His aim was surgical. Four shots. Four clean kills. Every bullet through the heart.

  I did as I was told.

  Then I heard a scream.

  Our numbers were thinning. Fast.

  The Thralls had rejoined the fray.

  They were unmistakable. Broader shoulders. Muscular builds. Their movements were sharper, more deliberate than the frail Peasants. They tore through our lines with brutal efficiency.

  They attacked from impossible angles. Walls. Pillars. Even the ceiling.

  In close combat, it took two or three Executioners just to bring one down.

  They were what had shattered our frontline earlier.

  And now—

  They were dismantling our rear guard.

  I had to make myself useful. Now.

  And yet, even though I instinctively knew how, biting back the fear inside me felt almost impossible.

  I would have to step into close combat. Use this new strength. Fight like a berserker and carve a path through them.

  But I couldn’t find it in me.

  If I charged like that, I would be torn apart in the process. I would feel pain worse than last night. Worse than the heart being pierced.

  No human wanted that kind of pain. Right?

  I glanced behind me at the captain. The strain was written across his face. His fa?ade of authority flickered, momentarily overtaken by something far more honest.

  Fear.

  We had to push forward. If we retreated, we would be boxed in and slaughtered.

  I knew that. I knew what I had to do.

  And yet—

  “Agghhhh!!!!”

  A female Executioner’s scream tore through the chamber as she was dragged down and devoured.

  Our squad of twenty had been reduced to eight. Maybe nine.

  The man who had looked at me with suspicion earlier now looked at me with something else.

  Hope.

  His stare lingered, as if he expected something from me.

  I couldn’t meet it.

  Another scream rang out. A man this time.

  We were now at seven, and were all forced onto the frontline now. And I had a choice to make.

  Killing still felt alien to me. Every shot I had fired earlier, part of me had wanted to miss. The other part had wanted to survive.

  I was killing but I wasn’t a killer.

  But here…

  I had to execute.

  I tried to rationalise the pain. It was inevitable. Better now than later. Endure it. Move forward.

  But logic couldn’t overpower emotion. It never truly could.

  The captain surged ahead, emptying his magazine with reckless abandon.

  At my feet lay two silver handheld axes. Fallen remnants of someone braver than me. Shame burned in my chest. I picked them up.

  They felt heavy. Foreign. Like I was stealing courage that didn’t belong to me.

  I took a breath, it was too slow.

  “AhAghhhh!”

  A visceral Australian cry split the air.

  I turned.

  Everything below his right kneecap was gone. Both bone and Muscle torn clean off.

  It would only take seconds before they swarmed him.

  I couldn’t let that happen. Yes, I had known him for mere hours.

  But he had treated me like I belonged here. He had defended me. He had believed I could do something.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  He had believed in me.

  I wanted to live up to that.

  I wanted to be more than dead weight.

  I wanted to be admired.

  And for the first time in my life…

  As part freak, no less…

  I had the chance to do that.

  “You!” I called out to the girl who had been by my side throughout. “Try to slow the bleeding. I’ll make a way!” I shouted, my feet moving before my mind could catch up, launching myself into the fray.

  “Suspicious guy! I’ll clear a path. Stay behind me and run for the end of the cave when you see the opening!” I barked, using the last of my breath before fully engaging.

  My twin axes rose, ready to herald the end of as many vampires as I could muster.

  The muscles in my legs exploded, propelling me forward at a speed no human could match. I let instinct take over.

  Cries. Screams. The wet crunch of bone.

  But not from me.

  My axes swung wildly, brutally, like a berserker lost in bloodlust. There was no elegance. No technique. Just force.

  Limbs flew. Heads caved in. Ribs shattered under crushing blows. Blood sprayed in violent arcs as I tore through anything in reach.

  I was faster than their quickest. Mightier than their strongest.

  My newly awakened vampiric instincts guided every reckless swing, every twist of my hips, every violent pivot of my shoulders.

  Claws raked across my back. Hands gripped at my arms. Teeth grazed my skin.

  I felt it.

  But adrenaline drowned the pain, and whatever wounds I took sealed almost as quickly as they opened.

  Behind me, movement slowed.

  It seemed the remaining Executioners had paused, stunned, watching the carnage unfold. Completely mesmerised by the one sided bloodbath ahead of them.

  I couldn’t help but like the attention.

  “Stupid vampires!” I shouted, exhilaration bleeding into my voice as I buried an axe into another skull.

  I turned briefly over my shoulder. “Stupid Executioner, run!”

  The woman from earlier was binding my Aussie friend’s wound, his face pale from blood loss and awe. The suspicious man finally seized his chance, sprinting through the gap I had carved.

  It didn’t matter if they were Peasants, Thralls, or even a Lord, at that moment, I truly believed I could make a way. And so he trusted me.

  “Ain’t no time to duck and cover, boys and girls! PUSH FORWARD!” the captain roared, hope surging through his voice.

  The remaining fighters rallied, unleashing everything they had to support me, covering angles I couldn’t see, firing past my shoulders as I advanced.

  Now that I no longer had to focus on creating an escape route, I let instinct fully take control.

  I twisted through the tunnel, kicking off walls, rebounding from pillars, even pushing off the ceiling to strike from new angles. My axes blurred.

  We were gaining ground. We were winning. Until—

  “Not so fast, human.” The distorted feminine voice rang out again.

  A thick strand of web shot toward the suspicious man, it hissed as it cut through the air, acidic. If it touched him, he was dead.

  My body reacted before thought, I made one explosive leap. Twisting mid-air, axe flashing downward, slicing through the webbing. I collided with him, shoving him aside as the remaining strands splashed harmlessly past.

  “Keep moving!” I shouted.

  “Thank you! I owe you one!” he called back, not slowing.

  I smirked.

  “How insolent. I must—”

  The vampire Lord stopped mid-sentence, as if something foreign had just readjusted her focus. She was now completely locked onto me.

  And in that instant, I finally understood the danger I was in.

  Fear crept back into my body, slow and suffocating, freezing me in place as I truly took in the monster before me.

  Half-spider. Half-woman.

  Her upper body was breathtaking. Beautiful in a way that felt almost sacred to the eye. Pale skin, delicate features, draped in a traditional kimono soaked dark with blood.

  But below the waist—

  Her body twisted into that of a monstrous tarantula. Massive. Grotesque. Multiple limbs sprawled outward, shifting and clicking against the stone. Each leg ended in a spear-like point, honed and sharp enough to pierce steel.

  Weapons in their own right.

  “So you must be the lord of this slum!” my captain shouted, wiping the last of the vampire blood from his face.

  “If you mean this domain’s Duchess,” she replied smoothly, fanning herself with eerie, bestial elegance, “then indeed, you are correct.”

  The captain loaded his backup rifle with a sharp click.

  “Well. Seems all we can do is stall then. Think you can handle that, kid?”

  I gave a shrug and a nod. It wasn’t like I had much of a choice.

  “Backups,” he barked, “ready to die!”

  The remaining two Executioners tightened their grips on their weapons.

  “Got it!”

  “I am already tired of your talking…” the Duchess sighed.

  Her arachnid legs flexed outward—

  Two strands of acidic webbing launched at blinding speed. There wasn’t even time to react as the two Executioners were instantly struck mid-step.

  The web hissed.

  And then—

  They melted.

  Armor, flesh and bone gone in seconds. Reduced to screaming silhouettes that dissolved like wax beneath flame.

  “Well… doesn’t change my job!” the captain roared.

  His rifle thundered.

  Silver rounds tore toward her upper body, forcing her to tilt and twist with unnatural grace.

  I lunged in at the same time. If I hesitated now, we were dead.

  I pivoted low, swinging an axe for one of her legs. She retracted it instantly, the spear-tip slashing past my face close enough for me to feel the wind.

  I rolled under her abdomen and came up from the other side, striking upward—

  She blocked it casually.

  One arachnid limb intercepted my axe with a metallic shriek. Another leg slammed into my side.

  The impact sent me flying.

  I crashed through stone, breath leaving my lungs in a violent burst.

  Gunfire roared again. The captain advanced relentlessly, alternating between bursts and single precision shots, trying to herd her movement.

  Silver sparked against chitin.

  Yet she moved like liquid shadow.

  Bullets tore through the air but she twisted between them, her upper body almost lazily elegant while her lower half scuttled with predatory efficiency.

  I pushed myself up, ribs aching, and charged again. This time I didn’t swing wildly.

  I leapt from the wall, kicked off a pillar, and came down from above, axes crossing toward her neck—

  She caught one handle mid-swing, her grip crushing the metal.

  The other axe glanced off her shoulder, drawing only a thin streak of pale blood before she flicked me away like debris.

  Gunfire and silver collided with claw and chitin in relentless rhythm. The captain shifted positions fluidly, firing from new angles while I attacked from wherever instinct dragged me.

  Left. Right. Ceiling. Wall.

  She parried everything.

  My axes rang against her limbs as if I were striking steel beams. Her reactions were instantaneous, precise. Every movement measured.

  She wasn’t even trying. She was simply studying us.

  Fencing away my strikes. Letting bullets pass inches from her face. Testing our speed.

  A spear-leg thrust forward without warning.

  I barely twisted aside in time. It pierced the stone behind me, embedding deep.

  If that had been my chest—

  I swallowed hard.

  For the first time since charging in, the truth settled in. We weren’t stalling her.

  She was entertaining herself and she hadn’t even begun to take this seriously. Until she finally grew bored.

  Without warning, a strand of webbing shot from her abdomen.

  Non-acidic. It wrapped around the captain’s torso mid-step.

  “What—”

  He was yanked off his feet.

  In a blink he was airborne, dragged across the cavern wall at impossible speed.

  Stone shredded flesh, and armor split.

  The sound—

  It wasn’t a scream. It was something wetter.

  His body tore apart against the rock face, chunks of red painting the stone as he was dragged in a violent arc before the web snapped loose.

  Blood and fragments rained down.

  She exhaled softly, almost disappointed before her eyes returned to me.

  “I will keep your little secret,” she said smoothly, crimson lips curling. “For now.”

  Her gaze shifted past me.

  Toward my injured Aussie friend and the seemingly clout driven girl that sat alongside him, tending to his wounds.

  But when I saw the vampire's eyes, I could tell her intent at first glance.

  She flexed one leg lazily. It struck.

  My axe was knocked from my right hand—

  —and in the same motion, the spear-tip sliced clean through my wrist.

  There was no resistance. My right hand separated from my arm.

  For half a second, I didn’t process it. Then the pain arrived.

  “AAAGHHHHHHHH—!”

  The scream tore out of me, raw like an animal.

  Blood sprayed from the stump as I stumbled back, clutching what was no longer there.

  She didn’t even look at me. Two strands of acidic webbing launched past my shoulder.

  They were engulfed; the web hissed. And in seconds they dissolved.

  Armor collapsed inward. Flesh melted outward. The smell—

  I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.

  They were gone just like that. I couldn’t believe it.

  They were just there.

  They were—

  A violent impact slammed into my chest. One of her legs pinned me against the wall. Stone cracked behind me as the pressure forced the air from my lungs.

  I was lifted slightly off the ground, impaled through the fabric of my suit but not yet through flesh.

  Her shadow loomed over me. And up close the Duchess was even more beautiful and infinitely more monstrous than ever before.

  “I can see why that man is interested in you. Not only do you side with the humans, but in less than a night of transforming you’re already stronger than my Thralls. For most new vampires, that would take years… but you…”

  She stroked my cheek with unsettling curiosity, a faint blush touching her face.

  “In only a single night. I wonder how powerful you could become in a year from now.” Her spear-like limb pressed further into me. “Take a guess. How long do you think it took me to become a Duchess?”

  I didn’t want to indulge her. “I don’t know…”

  “Five decades,” she purred. “Can you believe that? Some grow faster, of course, but even then I am considered above average. And yet here you are…”

  Her expression shifted between fascination and jealousy as she drove her leg deeper, the pressure cracking stone behind me.

  “Well, unfortunately, I cannot nurture you. For me to live, you must die.”

  Another leg rose.

  The sharp tip pierced just beside my heart, grazing it, poised to finish the job.

  It pressed deeper as the skin split, blood running warm down my chest.

  My fate was inevitable, I was going to die.

  “Sorry for the late notice.”

  Ice-blue hair streaked through the darkness.

  A blazing arc of flame carved across the chamber, slicing clean through the Duchess’s leg and searing into her torso.

  The katana reversed mid-motion, frost blooming instantly where heat had scorched.

  “Agghhhh!”

  The Duchess shrieked unnaturally as heat and cold tore through her simultaneously, her voice breaking into something inhuman.

  But Talia did not hesitate.

  She twisted in mid-air, driving her katana straight through the Duchess’s heart.

  Flame and frost collided within the wound in a violent thermal rupture. The air detonated outward.

  The Duchess was hurled across the tunnel at blinding speed, smashing into stone in a shower of debris.

  Talia landed lightly between us, blade still humming with residual heat.

  “Did you miss me?” she smirked.

  Like an angel beneath midnight, she had descended in fire and frost. But deep in my bones, something told me this battle was far from over.