— Jacke Jaywood, “Beasts, Men, and The Hunter’s Dilemma,” page 74
Only one town over from Serenity Gardens, Forest’s Edge, and Mina already regretted this trip.
Most neighboring towns this far from Peccatum maintained communal help boards. They were usually weathered planks nailed to the fronts of taverns or posted in town squares, though some were made from brick or stone. The messages tacked on were usually of need and opportunity to be exchanged between settlements. The requests were usually mundane: a farmer short on hands for the harvest, a merchant looking to barter goods, the occasional call for extra security.
Serenity Gardens, however, had never once asked for help. Mina had passed through these lands enough times to notice. The town was insular by design, closed off to outsiders and fiercely self-reliant. So, of course, the first time they reached out, it had to be for something dire.
The paper tacked to the board was finer than the usual scrap paper and hastily scribbled notes that surrounded it. The ink was thick, and the handwriting elegant like a nobleman's.
Kind Folk,
It is with great reluctance that I extend this call beyond our borders, but necessity demands it.
Four lives have been taken by a creature unknown to us, and left in such a state that I cannot, in good conscience, allow it to continue. My knights have scoured the land, yet we remain blind to its nature. I am left with no choice but to seek the aid of a tracker skilled in the ways of monsters and otherworldly forces.
To those willing to answer: I offer a reward worthy of the risk. Furthermore, you shall be granted temporary access to Serenity Gardens, a privilege rarely afforded to those beyond our walls. Should you prove yourself worthy, further entry may be negotiated upon the completion of this task and a judgment of your character.
Time is of the essence. We have buried enough of our own.
- Henrik Schwartz, Chief Knight of Serenity Gardens.
Mina sighed quietly, folding the parchment between her fingers.
“Bad news?” Emily asked from the roof of the stagecoach, where she sat with her legs dangling over the side, a bestiary open on her lap. The wide brim of her witch cap shielded her eyes from the harsh sunlight, casting half her face in shadow.
Mina reached up and handed her the notice.
“Oh. Yeah, bad news,” Emily said after skimming it. She folded the paper neatly and tucked it into her book before closing it. “When I offered the idea of hunting monsters here, I wasn’t actually being serious.”
Mina raised an eyebrow as she climbed up into the driver's box. “This isn’t an exercise. People are dead.”
“I know that,” Emily said, sliding down to sit beside her. She rested her elbows on her knees. “Maybe this is a good thing, though.”
“People are dead.”
“Yeah, I said I know. But maybe by helping them, it’ll help your case.”
“I doubt they’ll even let us inside, much less accept help from me.” She flicked the reins, and the stagecoach lurched forward.
“They don’t have to know you’re a vampire,” she said. “Keep your glasses on, don’t talk too much, and no one will be the wiser.”
Mina scoffed. “If only it were that simple.”
Emily nudged her with her shoulder. “It could be, if you didn’t brood so much.”
Mina ignored her and fixed her attention on the road ahead.
Despite being only one town over, the ride from here to Serenity Gardens was going to be a long one. Mina had never traveled it before, but she knew how to navigate it. There was only one road, one long, winding, overgrown forest road. The deeper they traveled, the thicker the trees became. Their trunks were gnarled and twisted, covered in ivy. Vines draped down like curtains, and the air became heavy with the smell of damp earth and moss.
Eventually, the road became little more than a trail, and navigating the stagecoach through the forest became more of a challenge. Then, there was no trail at all, only the deep trails left behind by countless wagons that had made the same journey.
“How far in is this place?” Emily asked with a groan
“A ways,” Mina muttered.
“Seems a little inconvenient, don’t you think? You’d think they’d make it easier to find.”
“They don’t want to be found. They want isolation. Serenity Gardens was founded by people who wanted a place free from cities like Peccatum and Brozegr?d. A place without factories, without smoke in the air, without the sound of metal grinding against metal. No politics, no crime, no corruption. Just solitude.”
“Doesn’t sound too bad,” Emily said, leaning back.
“Getting in is the hard part. They don’t like outsiders, and in order to live here, you need to go through a rigorous interview. That’s what Karaline has said, at least.”
“Like a job interview?”
“No, it’s more so to gauge the quality of your character. They don’t let in thieves, or cutthroats, or prostitutes, or anyone malicious. Anyone who might do them harm. They have knights sworn to defend the town with their lives.”
Emily’s eyes widened. “Knights? Like, actual knights? Swords and armor and all that?”
Mina nodded. “They’re old-fashioned.”
“So if a bunch of trained knights couldn’t handle this thing, what does that mean for us?”
Mina felt a tang of pride hearing Emily consider that. It was the exact thing plaguing her mind since she had read that contract. The Knights of Serenity Gardens were no laughing matter. They were well-trained, highly skilled, and very efficient in dispatching anything unwanted, including people like her.
“It means we need to be smarter than it is,” Mina said.
“Any guesses on what it might be?”
“Too early to say. But whatever it is, it’s killing without being seen. That narrows it down.”
“Could be a wraith. Or a shadow hound. Or maybe a—”
“Narrowing it down further. Something that can kill experienced warriors and leave them in a condition bad enough to warrant outside help.”
“You think they were… eaten?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll find out soon enough.”
The trees loomed taller around them, and the road stretched ever deeper into the heart of the forest. The closer they drew to Serenity Gardens, the heavier the weight in Mina’s chest became. She had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling.
The deeper they rode, the quieter the forest became.
Mina noticed it first. The birds had gone silent. There was no rustling in the underbrush. Even the creak of the stagecoach and the trotting of her horse felt too loud.
Then, somewhere in the distance, was a scream.
Mina tugged the reins and came to an abrupt stop. She inhaled deeply through her nose. The scent hit her instantly. Blood. Iron-thick, fresh, and in abundance. There was the distant scrape of metal against metal, the dull thud of bodies hitting the earth. The wet squelch of torn flesh.
Mina snapped the reins, urging the horses into a gallop. The stagecoach jolted violently over the uneven road. Emily yelped, clutching onto her seat with one hand and holding onto her hat with the other.
“Mina—!”
The signs of the carnage started showing themselves as they raced through the wider forest road. Dark droplets spattered across the ground, growing thicker as they went. A little further up the path, the wreckage of a supply cart came into view.
Mina yanked the reins again. The stagecoach skidded to a sharp halt.
Emily nearly tumbled off the seat. “A little warning next time!” she gasped, righting herself.
Mina leapt down, and Emily scrambled after her, adjusting her hat as she jogged to keep up.
The cart had shattered from an impact of some kind. A man lay slumped over in the driver's box. His chest cavity was split open like a cracked shell, and his guts spilled out in a greyish-pink heap. A second body sat beside the first, blood leaking out sluggishly from the raw stump of his neck. The missing head lay twenty feet away, wedged between a tree root and a small hill of grass, its mouth frozen in a silent scream.
Emily slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, lovely,” she mumbled into her sleeve.
Mina quickly scanned the area for any evidence of what happened, but the likely answer was an ambush of some kind. The cart’s cargo had spilled across the road: split open fruit, crushed vegetables. The horse was gone, its torn reins the only sign it had ever been there.
The sounds of combat were coming from further ahead, over a short forest mound. Before cresting over the hill, Mina drew one of her revolvers and urged Emily to do the same. Cautiously, she then moved forward, keeping her weapon raised and ready.
Three more bodies were just over the hill, all headless and shred to ribbons. Limbs lay separated from torsos, and one of them was so badly burned their flesh had melted from their bones. The ground was soaked in dark, sticky blood. These men hadn’t simply been killed, they had been butchered.
One of the disembodied heads was staring right at them. The mouth was wide open, with a set of sharp fangs protruding from the gums.
Vampires.
Mina’s heart stopped. The black swords and knives only solidified it further. Before she even had time to panic at the idea of Draven being here, a voice cracked the air, low and deep, burning with rage.
“More of you?”
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Her attention snapped ahead to where a knight stood at the center of the devastation. His armor was thick-plated and battle-worn. Leather tassets hung from his waist. A faded blue cape draped over his shoulders, its fabric torn but unmistakably bearing the sigil of Serenity Gardens, a Midnight Blossom, encircled by twisting vines.
Blood was trickling down the silver handle of his halberd, from which a vampire had been impaled through the chest, and was left dangling a few feet from the ground. The knight's grip was impossibly strong, supporting the full weight of the vampire as he flailed in pain. He was barely clinging to life. A deep scar bisected his face, and his teeth were shattered, pieces glinting in the red puddle beneath him.
Mina tensed. She had never seen a vampire bleed so much.
The knight exhaled sharply. The narrow slits in his silver helmet revealed nothing but shadow.
Then, without hesitation, he wrenched the halberd free, and the vampire slumped forward onto his knees. The knight's boot came down, and the vampire shrieked. His arms flailed weakly, his fingers clawing at the dirt. The knight pressed harder, his weight sinking into the man’s skull.
CRACK!
The scream became a gurgle. Blood sprayed outward in a thick, wet burst.
Emily stumbled back, her face going pale. She doubled over and vomited into the grass, one hand bracing against a nearby tree. “What the fuck!” she choked.
Mina didn’t move. She only watched as the knight lifted his foot, revealing the pulped ruin of what had once been a face. Fragments of skull jutted out between torn flaps of flesh.
Another vampire lay in the shade of the canopy behind the knight. He was barely conscious and barely breathing. He was a wreck of a man, his face unrecognizable beneath swelling and bruises. Yet, even through all of it, Mina swore she recognized him.
The knight shifted his stance. He slammed the base of his halberd into the ground. Magic buzzed in the air as the earth rumbled. Four massive boulders wrenched themselves free from the soil and floated as if riding an ocean wave.
“I should have known it was vampires behind all of this. Your deaths will avenge their spirits,” his voice echoed from between the slits of the helmet.
“Emily, move!” Mina shoved the girl aside as the boulders launched toward them.
The impact sent Mina hurtling back over the small hill. She crashed into the wrecked supply cart. A spray of crushed fruit, blood, and wood erupted into the air. Pain surged through her body. Two of her ribs were broken.
“Stop!” Emily shouted at the top of the hill. “We’re not here to fight you!”
The ground beneath her suddenly buckled, then shot up like a piston. The force sent her airborne before another rock slammed into her side, sending her tumbling down the hill. She was out cold.
Mina staggered to her feet, wiping the blood from her mouth. Her body was already stitching itself back together.
The knight appeared over the crest and loomed over the two. The chainmail beneath his plated armor rattled with each step.
Mina had dropped her gun sometime during the fall. She drew her other one and aimed it squarely at the knight’s chest. “She’s right, we didn’t come to fight. Lower your weapon, and I will do the same.”
The knight stood firm, his halberd still dripping with vampire blood. “Why should I believe the words of a vampire?”
Mina growled. It was only then that she realized not only had her hat been knocked off, but her tinted lenses had as well. The knight could see her silver eyes plain as day. It didn’t matter, though. Even with her usual disguise, he had seen right through her the moment he laid eyes on her. He was experienced. Very experienced. Even his armor was silver, but she didn’t need to see it to know that. She could feel the weakening aura radiating off it like heat from the sun, which was also now beating down on her.
“We’re here to help you!” she shouted.
A scoff echoed from within his helmet. “A monster offering aid is no different than a viper offering mercy. It is not in your nature to be trusted.”
This wasn’t good. Mina wasn’t liking her chances already. There was already a team of vampires dead just over the hill, no doubt all killed by the hands of this one knight. If multiple vampires couldn’t kill him, what chance did she stand?
Mina let out a shaky breath, tightening her grip on her gun. “I am what I am,” she started, “But that does not make me an enemy. I was inv—”
The knight slammed the weapon into the ground.
Mina fired.
A slab of stone erupted from the earth, catching the shot. The knight swept his gauntlet forward, and the stone hurtled toward Mina like a battering ram.
She leapt aside, rolling as the rock smashed into the remains of the cart. Before she could regain her footing, the knight was already upon her. He struck with terrifying speed for a human. Mina barely managed to draw her sword in time; the steel of her blade met his weapon with a shriek of metal against metal. The force of the impact sent shudders up her arm. She twisted, using the momentum to slide beneath his guard, but the knight withdrew out of her reach.
Mina cursed under her breath. She couldn’t kill him. If she did, getting into Serenity Gardens would be impossible. But if she didn’t fight back, he wouldn’t stop until she was nothing but a mangled corpse in the dirt.
The knight lunged again, and Mina ducked, skidding through the dust as the halberd sliced through the air where her head had been. She fired once more, grazing his helmet.
The knight put distance again, and Mina met his gaze through the narrow slits of his helm.
“I won’t miss again,” she warned.
“Neither shall I,” he retorted. The ground shifted, and a ripple of rock slithered through the earth, worming towards her.
Before Mina could react, a jagged hand of stone shot up and clamped around her ankle. She was pinned, and as the ripple of rock reached her, a pillar erupted, striking her chest with the force of a battering ram.
There was a loud snap, and she hit the ground hard. White-hot pain shot through her leg. Her ankle was broken, the bone jutting through her skin.
She growled, biting back the pain as the knight stepped toward her. Her weapons had been thrown from her grasp again, lying several feet away. The impacts were too hard for her to keep a firm grip.
Shit! She didn’t care anymore, she wasn’t going to just let herself die here. Not when she needed to protect Emily.
The knight loomed over her, his weapon raised high. “May your death bring peace to the souls you have forsaken.”
Mina tried twisting her body away, but the stone still had a firm grip on her leg.
The halberd swung down, but stopped inches from her face.
The blade trembled, catching the sunlight. The knight grunted, yanking his weapon like it was lodged in a tree stump. But it wouldn’t budge.
Emily stood a few paces back, her arms outstretched and quivering. She clenched her fists and threw her body back.
The weapon was ripped away. It spun through the air and buried itself deep into a tree with a heavy thunk.
Emily wiped the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. She pulled the other gun from her belt and leveled it at the knight. Her hands were shaking. “I don’t know if you know this,” she panted, “but armor doesn’t do much against bullets. Step away from her. Hands where I can see them.”
The knight turned his head toward her. Slowly, he took a step back.
Click. Emily thumbed back the hammer. “I said in the air!”
The knight let out a low, displeased breath. “If you believe a single shot will end me, you are mistaken.”
“If you believe I’ll only fire once, you’re mistaken.” Emily tightened her grip. “Back away. Let her go. I don’t want to shoot you, but I will.”
Mina gritted her teeth. The rocks constraining her ankle loosened, sinking back into the earth. The instant they did, her body lurched into action, snapping the bone back into place. She groaned at the sudden relief but forced herself upright.
Emily glanced at her. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” Mina said with a growl. “Now put the gun down.”
“What? Why?”
“Down, Emily!”
Emily looked back at the knight. After a moment, she slowly lowered her gun.
Mina stepped between her and the knight, squaring her shoulders despite the ache in her ribs. “We don’t mean you any harm. If you would just—”
“You are trespassing,” the knight interrupted. “These grounds are forbidden to your kind. Five of your ilk have already defiled this place with their presence. I shall not permit a sixth.”
“We’re not with them. My apprentice and I are here to help. And we were invited.”
The knight scoffed. “Invited?”
“Yeah,” Emily said. “Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot. Well, probably both feet, honestly. But this is just a misunderstanding. My name’s Emily Wisteria, and this is Mina.” She paused. “And you are?”
“Even if I believed you bore no ill intent, I would not allow the likes of you to enter the town. This is a place of peace. We already have one monster lurking in our streets. I will not suffer another.”
Emily frowned. “That’s a really long name.”
“I am not in the mood for games, child,” the knight’s voice boomed. “If you truly bring no harm, then state your business plainly, lest I assume it is simply to bring calamity, like a hound riddled with fleas.”
“As I said,” Mina interjected before Emily could escalate things, “we were invited. Henrik, Chief Knight of Serenity Gardens, sent for us.”
“No invitations were sent to any vampire,” the knight countered.
“They were sent to my husband,” Mina said flatly. “Jonathan Grimshaw.” The knight went quiet. Mina waited for a response, but none came. “The same invitation was sent to Karaline Macguire and Violet Vorrimstone,” she added.
Still, the knight did not speak. His stance shifted slightly. He wasn’t relaxed, but his guard was down slightly. “Karaline?”
Mina nodded. “We’re escorting them here.”
“And what of Jonathan?”
Mina exhaled. “Would you believe me if I told you he was dead?”
“Not likely,” the knight said after a pause.
“You figure I killed him?”
“I pray that is not the case,” the knight said.
A tight pain clenched Mina’s heart. In a way, he wasn’t far off.
“Yet you claim to be escorting those sacred to this town,” the knight continued. “If they yet live, then perhaps he does as well.”
Mina narrowed her gaze. “Emily, bring Karaline.”
Emily hesitated. “What about you?”
“I’ll be fine. Go.”
Emily nodded, glancing warily at the knight before turning and hurrying toward the stagecoach.
Mina turned back to the knight, forcing her posture to relax despite the tension in the air. “I regret how this has unfolded,” she said, gesturing toward the wreckage, the bloodied ground, the fallen bodies. “Had we arrived sooner, perhaps the men in that cart would have been saved.”
“If your kind had not arrived at all,” the knight said coldly, “they never would have perished.”
“Maybe you’re right. What happened here?”
The knight gave a humorless chuckle. “Do you take me for a fool? You would know, monster.”
“And yet I don’t, because those vampires are not with me. As I keep saying, I am here to help. I was invited. But no matter how many times I say it, you refuse to listen.”
The knight’s helmet tilted slightly. “I have never known a vampire to speak the truth. And yet you claim to not only know but to be escorting those sacred to this town.”
“Because it is the truth,” Mina said simply. “When my apprentice returns with Karaline, she can vouch for me. We are friends. But until then, I need to know—”
Over the hill sounded a wet, ragged cough.
Both Mina and the knight glanced up at it. There was a moment when their gazes met, and an almost silent, but hesitant agreement was made. Slowly, they both made their way up the small hill, keeping their distance from one another while cautiously approaching the source of the sound.
It was coming from the barely conscious vampire in the dirt began to stir. His limbs trembled as he tried to push himself upright, his fingers clawing weakly at the blood-soaked ground. His swollen face had begun to heal, revealing features Mina recognized instantly.
“Marcellus?” she whispered, eyes widening.
Blood poured from his mouth. It wobbled into something that might have been a grin if not for the gaps where his teeth had been shattered. “Mina,” he rasped, “you must kill him… or he’ll slaughter us like the rest…”
The knight’s boot slammed into the earth, and the ground erupted. A ripple of stone shot outward, knocking Marcellus flat. A tendril of jagged rock coiled around him, pinning him to the dirt.
The knight’s voice thundered. “You are with this thing!”
Mina snapped to attention. “I am not!” she barked. “But hold your hand.”
The knight’s helm tilted toward her, incredulous. “You wish for me to spare this creature? When he is the one who orchestrated this slaughter?”
“I do,” she admitted. “For now.”
The knight scoffed. “On what grounds?”
Mina’s jaw tightened. “Because he is the right hand of Draven Theodgar. And if I am to find and kill Theodgar, then I need Marcellus alive long enough to tell me where he is.”
The knight went utterly still. Then, he whispered, “Theodgar?”
“I know this town has a history with him. I do, too. If I have any chance of finding him, I need this one to talk before he dies.”
Marcellus coughed up another mouthful of blood. “Mina,” he croaked. “We’re old friends, aren’t we? Please… help me…”
The knight turned on him with fury. “Silence!” His voice rang through the clearing like a war drum. He then turned back to Mina. “You will do nothing until I see Karaline with my own eyes. Not unless you wish to share his fate.”
“Then we’ll wait,” Mina said quickly, her heart pounding in her aching chest. The vampires had been here for Emily. That much she knew. Five of them didn’t just happen upon this place, they had staged something. The cart, the wreckage, the thick scent of blood… it had been bait. A trap. They had been waiting for her, which meant they had likely found her some time ago and were waiting to strike. And they would have succeeded, had the knight not reached them first.
Draven wasn’t with them, though. At least, she didn’t think so. He had the power to cast illusions, so for all she knew, he could be watching them right now. But what about Emily? She had just sent her own her own? No, the stagecoach was close enough that she would be safe, right?
Mina’s heart raced faster.
There was no knowing if Draven was even here. Maybe he wasn’t. If Marcellus was here, there was a chance it was because Draven sent him instead. He had to still be recovering then.
She wouldn’t know. Not until she could speak to Marcellus. But she couldn’t even do that.
Time seemed to slow.
With each passing minute that Emily was gone, the more Mina began to worry. She didn’t know how much longer the knight was willing to wait, or what he would do if his patience was tested. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be good.
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