— Brynn Holloway, “An Inquisitor’s Field Notes,” page 224
Emily’s heart lurched into her throat.
The creature was so unbelievably massive compared to the other Sangrevoros that she could hardly believe it. The illustrations in the beastiary did nothing to prepare her for how big the Alpha would be in person. It was a hulking monster the likes of which she had never seen, and yet it looked just close enough to something normal that it felt uncanny.
Emily tightened her grip on both her weapons and fought back against the urge to freeze on the spot. She could feel it, the chill settling in, the muscles in her legs locking.
Two more Sangrevoros slithered out from the shadows, flanking the Alpha like bodyguards.
Shit.
The Alpha reared, then pounced, launching itself toward Emily.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she rolled to the side just as it came crashing down, silently erupting the earth beneath it.
Emily bolted away, her lungs burning, her heart hammering like a war drum. Even though she couldn’t hear the hulking beast behind her, she could feel it in the earth, it’s paws pounding into it with each powerful step.
Upon the rooftops, muzzles flashed. Those few with rifles started taking shots at the beast, but none could hit their mark. Emily didn’t even dare glance back to see. She knew if she did, she’d trip or mess up her run and damn herself.
Then, the thumping on the earth stopped.
Despite her better judgment, Emily glanced back and tripped as she expected. She hit the ground hard and rolled back onto her feet.
The Alpha had skidded to a stop and turned its attention to a man atop his cottage roof. He fired again at the beast and struck its leg.
The Alpha reared back, then launched itself toward him. It landed just short and crashed through the brick wall silently, caving in the roof and bringing the man down with it.
Emily pushed off the ground and boosted herself toward the scene. The two Sangrevoros tried cutting her off, but Emily pivoted just as they lunged, narrowly avoiding their claws as they brushed past her.
She dove into the newly made opening and found the Alpha in the center of the cottage kitchen. It had its mouth open in a silent roar, its twin tails thrashing around violently as it smashed its hulking claws into everything in reach. She scanned the debris for the fallen man and found him half-buried and barely conscious.
Emily shot twice into the Alpha’s side, and it reeled, snarling silently, but its fury was written in its gleaming red eyes. More of the ceiling gave out as it tried standing on its hind legs and smashed its head against the roof. Broken timber and shingles collapsed onto Emily, and she barely caught the falling debris with a burst of telekinesis.
But then the Alpha launched a mountain of debris from the side like a shotgun blast.
Pain erupted across her body as the force hurled her against the brick wall. A rafter came crashing down, smashing into a hard chunk of debris that pinned Emily to the ground. She screamed silently in pain, gasping for air as she felt around for her weapons.
They had fallen from her grip and were lost among the debris pile. Emily pushed against the debris, but the weight of it was too heavy. She was stuck.
The Alpha’s jaw opened wide, and its red eyes locked onto her like a wolf scenting blood.
She needed to do something. Now!
Heat surged to her fingertips, and fire erupted from her palm.
The Alpha reeled as the fire swirled through the air, catching the fallen timber and spreading quickly.
When she relinquished the spell, a figure came crashing into the house. They slammed into the Alpha with such force that it was sent flying through the wall, exploding a mound of flaming debris onto the ground outside.
Emily was panting, struggling to lift the debris again, when the figure came to help.
Mina.
She lifted the rafter with ease, and Emily managed to push the rest of it off her and crawl out.
Flames climbed up the walls, and smoke filled the air.
Mina pushed Emily toward the exit, then turned to help the man trapped beneath the shingles and timber.
Just as Emily stumbled back outside, sound erupted in her ears.
Screams.
Roaring fire.
Gunshots.
Her chest was heaving, and blood was pumping like thunder in her ears. She looked back toward the burning house just as Mina rushed out with the man slung over her shoulder. He was set down gently in the grass while the townsfolk up on rooftops took shots at the fleeing Sangrevoros, the Alpha among them.
Soon, the fire roaring behind her felt more like a distant distraction compared to the screaming and crying all around her. The streets of Cresthill were paved in blood, with the littered corpses of monsters sprawled between the buildings. She didn’t know if anyone had died. From the looks of it, everyone was okay. The man whom Mina had pulled from the fire seemed mostly unharmed and just unconscious.
As for anyone else, it was too early to tell.
Emily stood outside The Tailor’s Shop, leaning against the side of it so as not to put too much weight on her injured leg. The stiffness was getting worse the longer the night went on, and all she wanted to do was lie down and rest. But she couldn’t. She had to keep watch just in case any more Sangrevoros showed up.
It was one of only two buildings large enough to reasonably hold the people of Cresthill. The other was the Church of Asdros, and so the decision was made to send the injured there while those still healthy were either in the boquette, or sent to stand guard outside the church. Keeping everyone corralled made it easier to watch over everything, even if it was uncomfortable for most.
Mina had managed to pull her gun from the burning building, but with only a few rounds remaining, Emily was left more defenseless than ever. The idea of the Sangrevoros actually returning again tonight made her stomach twist into a knot. Every time something shifted in the darkness, she nearly had a heart attack, but thankfully, it was never the beasts. She would at least know when they were near, and so long as she could still hear something, she knew she was safe.
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Mina stepped out of The Tailor’s Shop and lit a cigarette, gazing off toward the approaching riders. Emily watched her for a moment, how the embers flared at the tip whenever she inhaled the smoke into her lungs. She had never tried smoking before, but from all she had heard, they helped calm people’s nerves. Emily wondered if that was why Mina smoked as often as she did, but she never felt comfortable asking.
“Can we talk now?” Emily asked quietly.
“Not a good time, Emily.”
“I just want to know.”
“No.”
“Are you her daughter?”
Mina fell silent. “No.”
Emily opened her mouth to ask another question, but a moving shadow in the distance caught her attention. Three figures were riding on horseback. The dark made it difficult to make out any features, but she already knew they were. Lord Elric Dainford, and no doubt accompanied by two of his personal guards.
“We’ll talk about this later,” Mina said. “I just need you to trust me for now.”
Emily frowned, but didn’t argue.
The three horses clattered against the cobblestone street a moment later and came to a sudden and abrupt stop. Dainford barely pulled on the reins before jumping down. The two guards behind him remained mounted, surveying the ruins of the street with visible alarm.
“What the hell happened here?!” Dainford barked, gesturing wildly toward the two buildings that had burned to the ground.
“Monsters,” Mina replied calmly, her arms crossed. “The Sangrevoros came into Cresthill with their Alpha.”
Dainford’s face flushed red. “And where the hell were you while this was happening?”
“Doing my job,” Mina replied. “Looking for their den, like you instructed me to.”
“I instructed you to protect us!”
“And I am.”
“Does this look like protecting? Letting these bloodthirsty beasts in? Letting them hunt and bite and slash their way through our people?”
“No one was killed.”
“But they were injured when they were never supposed to be! And where the hell are they?”
“The injured are being treated in the Church of Asdros. The worst anyone received was a bite.”
“Bites that you allowed to happen!” Dainford shouted. “Is that what you call doing your job?”
Mina glared back at him, flashing her fangs as she spoke. “Say that again,” she said quietly.
Emily tensed. So did the guards.
“I was doing exactly as you told me. I was protecting this town by searching for where those monsters were coming from. You’re right, though, I wasn’t here. I was up in the mountains. But you want to know who was here?” She nodded toward Emily. “She kept the people safe in my stead. She took on these monsters and helped fend them off, just like I trained her to.”
Dainford shot Emily a look.
“She’s the reason most of these people aren’t hurt. You want to scream about how I let a few get injured? Go ahead. But you better understand this, Dainford, I’m not your scapegoat, and I sure as hell don’t answer to you.”
Dainford’s face twisted. “Clearly, you don’t answer to anyone, or we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“We’re in this mess because creatures from another realm are crawling into our world,” Mina snapped. “Not because of me.”
Emily wanted to say something to back Mina up, but nothing came. She wasn’t sure what to say, or if saying anything would make things better or worse.
“Is that how this happened, then? These monsters just appeared in the heart of Cresthill without warning.”
“Exactly,” Mina said. She took a long drag of her cigarette before continuing. “We went searching for the Sangrevoro den earlier today, just like you asked. We didn’t find anything.”
Emily glanced up at Mina. She waited to see if she'd mention the vampire they encountered, but she never did.
“After we returned, I sent Emily home to rest while I kept searching. And you want to know what, I did find their nest.”
“You did?” Emily asked, startled.
Mina nodded, her eyes still locked on Dainford. “They’re coming from one of the old elven ruins high up in the mountains. A rift was open there, and I watched as the Sangrevoro crawled out of it.”
“Wait… you saw a rift?” Emily asked.
“We’ll talk about it later, Emily,” Mina said.
Dainford scoffed. “And you missed that? Why the hell weren’t you searching the mountains from the start?”
“Because Sangrevoro don’t nest in high terrain,” Mina said. “They prefer flatlands, forests, rivers, and places where there is food. High elevations aren’t natural for them. I assumed they wouldn’t climb that high unless forced.”
“Forced?”
“If the rift opened up there, they didn’t have a choice.” She took a step forward. “They didn’t choose to be there. They came through because it was open, and they followed the valley down.”
Dainford’s lip curled. “And why did they attack the town?”
Mina shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe they were starving. Maybe they sensed prey. Maybe something on the other side of the rift is driving them into a frenzy. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that by the time I found it, they were already coming down the slope. They were already here.”
Dainford was fuming. “So? What now? You’re just going to sit on your hands while they pour through the mountain?”
“No,” Mina said flatly. “Emily and I will go up and deal with it in the morning.”
“Why wait? Why not now?”
“Because we’re the only two people in this entire town who can deal with these things, so unless you want to leave everyone under the guard of each other, then I suggest you crawl out of my ass and let us do our job.”
Emily’s chest tightened.
“You’re a vampire, are you not? Surely you can handle it before the sun rises.”
“Not without Emily. She’s hurt right now and needs some time to rest up. If she goes up there now, tired and unprepared, she’ll die. And then so will everyone else in Ageria.”
“Then why not go yourself? I am ordering you too—”
Click!
The barrel of Mina’s pistol was inches from Dainford’s face.
The two mounted guards raised their rifles at her, but she hardly flinched. Dainford, on the other hand, stumbled back, his face going white. Even Emily tensed, watching nervously.
Mina took another deep drag before flicking her cigarette away. “And I’m ordering you to shut the fuck up. Its been a long day, and I’m doing my job, just as you should be doing yours. Go inside and reassure everyone they’ll be okay while I make sure no one else gets injured tonight. When morning comes, we’ll go take care of the problem.”
Dainford gulped, looking straight down the barrel. His posture shifted as he tried to maintain his confidence, but it was slipping by the second. Without another word, he huffed and marched past Mina. His two guards lowered their rifles and dismounted their horses, following him inside.
Mina holstered her gun and let out a long sigh. “Gods above,” she muttered through the first exhale. “That man is a fucking idiot.” She withdrew and lit another cigarette from her coat pocket. “He walks in, horse prancing like he’s royalty, doesn’t ask how anyone is, doesn’t thank anyone for fighting, just starts barking like a drunk dog. He’s lucky I didn’t put a bullet in his ass just to shut him up.”
“We’re not done with our conversation,” Emily said.
“There is a time and a place, Emily. Peoples lives are at stake. That should be your priority right now. When this is over, I promise we’ll talk.”
Emily knew Mina was right, but she couldn’t help but want to argue against it. Then again, she seemed pretty mad. It probably wasn’t the best idea to poke the bear now. “Are you… Okay?” Emily asked after a pause.
“Never better,” she growled.
“Did you see the rift?”
She nodded.
“What did it look like?”
Mina took a drag. “Red. Very red. Like the air had been ripped apart. There was an ocean of blood swirling around inside. And there's magic pulsing around it. Feels like your skin is humming, like you’re too close to lightning.”
Emily turned curiously toward the mountaintops. Tomorrow, she would be heading up there to see it for herself. She didn’t even know what they were going to do. Nothing she had read about ever mentioned the rifts beyond their existence. How would they close it? Could it even be closed?
“You did well today,” Mina suddenly said.
Emily looked over in surprise.
“You protected these people. You bought time and helped save lives. That’s no small thing.”
Emily looked down again. “I was just… trying not to mess up again.”
“You didn’t mess up,” Mina said. “You held your ground. I wish I’d gotten here sooner, but the moment I realized where they were going, I ran as fast as I could.”
“I know,” Emily said softly. “But… I get it now. I think? Why I have to fight… Because if I don’t help these people… who will?”
Mina gave a small, quiet smile.
“So… how are we supposed to fight them tomorrow? Or… technically, later today?”
“We’ll figure that out later. For now, I think you deserve a break. Go inside and rest with the others. I’ll keep watch out here.”
“You sure?”
She nodded. “You need rest, because tomorrow is going to be your first real test.”
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