As night fell, the forest was overtaken by its nocturnal predators.
Amid the forest's chill and the first signs of winter, someone ran along the trails.
Their breathing was erratic, sweat pouring down their face—desperation etched into their expression.
Spotting a cluster of bushes, she slipped into them, her heart pounding.
Raising herself slightly, she kept watch over the path she had taken.
When she realized her pursuer was nowhere in sight, she let out a relieved breath and closed her eyes.
Then—at the sound of something behind her—her eyes snapped open in panic, meeting a pair of blue ones staring straight back.
"AAH—"
Before she could scream, the creature seized her by the head and slammed her into the ground.
Tearing off her leather cap, it sank its fangs into her neck. In a matter of seconds, the woman lost all color as her body withered.
The vampire, finishing his meal, let out a chuckle as he wiped the faint trace of blood from his lips with his sleeve.
The moment he sensed something, his expression hardened.
His gaze swept across the surrounding trees.
…
Finding nothing, he shrugged and started back toward the trail.
BLAM
Without warning, a blow to the head sent him straight to the ground.
"I told you not to get distracted. Someone died because of it."
At the voice above him, the vampire's eyes snapped open in anger as he rose without pause, lunging at the figure.
Before he could reach him, an axe tore through his arm.
"My bad, alright? It happens, man."
Pulling back quickly, the vampire clutched his shoulder, blood poured from the wound in heavy streams—then stopped abruptly.
Shit… where the hell did these bastards come from?
His eyes lifted to the two in front of him.
Kris, never taking his eyes off the vampire, stood with one hand in his jacket pocket and a stake in the other.
Marceline stared back at him with a pout, her axe resting across her shoulders and a stake in hand.
"Who the hell are you?"
The vampire snapped, a scowl on his face, though sweat trickled down the back of his neck.
Marceline and Kris exchanged a glance, raising their brows, before she turned to the sludge and jerked a thumb at the undead.
"Don't they usually attack first?"
"Maybe they're getting smarter."
Mocked, the vampire bared his teeth, about to shout at the pair.
"Anyway."
All at once—the air grew heavier—both of them staring as if they could see straight into his soul, their eyes locked onto him.
"What do you know about the Fool?"
With an irritated grin, the vampire raised his middle finger at the two of them.
"Fuck you."
"Alright."
With that, Kris surged forward, driving a stake toward the vampire's chest.
He slipped aside and tried to counter—only to be pressed by Marceline.
He drove her back with a kick that she blocked with the axe, Kris already moving in to strike from behind.
Bracing through his legs, the vampire launched himself upward in a high leap, pulling away from them.
Two against one? That's bullshit.
He thought, irritation flashing in his eyes.
Fine then… how do you deal with this?
Kris and Marceline, noticing a smile spread across the vampire's face, readied themselves for an attack.
Instead, they were left stunned as the vampire suddenly bolted into the forest.
"Seriously?"
She complained, rolling her eyes.
"We should go after him, or we'll lose him," Kris said, checking his stake.
"Yeah, yeah."
Both of them took off, chasing after the vampire.
|In an enclosed space|
The vampire finally stopped running, pushing open a set of heavy iron doors before shutting them behind him.
"Lose something?"
A voice asked from behind him, irritation lacing the words, making him turn with a grind of his teeth.
"Fuck—give me a hand. I've got hunters on my tail."
Farther off, amid a few laughs, someone answered with a mocking tone.
"Went out to hunt and came back with your tail between your legs?"
"Fuck you!"
"Alright then," the first vampire cut in. "How many?"
The question made the injured vampire break into a sweat, his brows knitting together.
"T-two."
"…"
Silence flooded the room—before it was swallowed by a burst of laughter.
"Two?! That's just pathetic!"
"And you've still got the nerve to come begging for help?"
"Get lost, coward!"
After a round of humiliation, the injured vampire could do nothing but lower his gaze to his feet.
The one who had greeted him rested a hand on his shoulder.
"Alright, coward. We'll help you."
|Kris and Marceline|
"Are you sure it's this way?"
"Of course. I'm the one with sensory abilities."
"I still think if we'd taken that trail, we would've caught him already."
"Oh yeah? Like that time we spent a whole day stuck in that forest?"
"…"
After a while, they stopped in front of a large warehouse.
"He led us straight to the nest… how convenient."
She said smiling, a hand resting under her chin.
Kris simply headed for the door, pausing briefly to glance back at her.
"There are at least a dozen inside. Get ready."
"Bet."
Pushing the heavy doors open, the two stepped into the warehouse.
Marceline immediately caught the thick, metallic scent, her face twisting in disgust.
The interior was completely dark, the windows fully covered.
Dozens of shelves filled the space, stacked with crates—some empty, others full.
Silence reigned in the darkness.
"Alright."
Kris said, stepping forward.
"I'll go in. You watch the door."
Marceline shot him a hesitant look.
"You sure?"
"I'm good."
He turned slightly before adding,
"I have the advantage in here."
Moments later, he slipped into the aisles, blending into the warehouse's shadows.
Marceline frowned, setting her bass on the floor and resting both hands on it.
"Why me? What a pain."
Deeper inside, Kris moved calmly through the aisles.
His eyes fixed solely on the end of the corridor.
With a stake in hand, he readied himself for the first encounter.
Three steps from the corner, two vampires burst from their hiding spots, rushing him as they lunged to attack.
Already expecting it, Kris ducked under a strike aimed at his face, then seized the vampire in a chokehold, using him as a shield against the other.
Caught off guard by the sudden move, the other vampire struck his companion in the neck.
Kris drove the stake through the vampire's heart, and the body collapsed into dust.
He drove his knee into the other's abdomen, forcing him to double over from the impact.
Then went limp as the stake pierced his heart.
Ten.
Without sparing the bodies a glance, he moved on to the next aisle.
This time, his focus wasn't fixed solely on the end of the corridor.
When he reached the middle of the aisle, four vampires stepped in—one pair from the entrance, the other from the far end.
Kris simply turned sideways, positioning himself to handle both directions.
The vampires charged ferociously, unwilling to give him any time.
He met them head-on—his arm snapping out to grab a large crate and drag it into their path.
As he smashed the crate into them, he raised his other arm and thrust it out like a spear toward the chest of the vampire behind.
The vampire dodged by a hair, a tear ripping open across his shirt.
A moment later, he let out a mocking laugh and lunged at Kris.
But he failed to notice the arm expanding, forming several jagged points.
BLAM
The impact tore through the warehouse, dust erupting across the space.
Marceline, still by the door, frowned.
"He's enjoying himself, huh?"
Inside the dust, a vampire staggered, half-disoriented, muttering between coughs.
"What the hell was that?"
Suddenly, his head was torn off—his body hit the ground with a dull thud—then crumbled into dust.
The last two vampires found each other within the cloud.
"Fuck—what is that monster?"
"We need to get out of here."
From deeper within, two spear-like limbs shot toward them.
One of the vampires dodged and broke out of the dust.
The other was struck—and as the spears retracted, his body collapsed into dust.
"Fuck this—I'm getting out of here."
The vampire sprinted for the door.
But he was stopped by a presence.
"Oh? Is it my turn now?"
"Move, bitch!"
He lunged at her wildly.
Marceline raised her axe and, in a single downward stroke, tore through the vampire's neck.
"That's it? What a waste of time…"
She sat on a nearby crate, idly plucking a few notes on her bass.
Deeper inside the warehouse, the dust had already settled.
Six.
Kris counted as he moved on toward another aisle.
At the corner, two vampires hid, drenched in sweat from head to toe.
"What now? You saw what he did?"
"Of course I did, damn it! Shit—just let me think."
As the footsteps drew closer, the tension mounted.
The vampire who had asked the question couldn't take the pressure anymore.
He burst from his hiding spot with a shout, lunging at Kris's chest.
Kris caught his arm and snapped the elbow joint, then drove the stake straight through his heart.
He dodged a strike from the second, who had taken advantage of the opening to attack.
Even so, the blow only grazed him, tearing lightly through his coat.
Realizing the mistake, the vampire tried to pull back.
But he was caught by the arm—and when he tried to wrench free with the other, a heavy blow slammed into his ribs, a jolt rippling through his body as several of them cracked.
"Urgh."
The vampire groaned in pain, yet forced it aside and launched one last desperate attack.
With an open-handed strike, his arm passed straight through Kris's head—drawing a grin from him.
Unlike what he expected, the monster before him was still standing.
I—I can't pull it out.
His arm was stuck, growing hotter and hotter, until his skin burned and his flesh began to cook.
Before he could even scream, the stake pierced his heart.
As the body crumbled into dust, Kris's face now bore a large hole, exposing a clear hole straight through to the other side.
From the wound, a surge of greenish fluid spilled out, stuttering as it began to close.
With the shell and his eyes reformed, Kris opened them again and continued deeper into the warehouse.
Four.
|With Marceline|
She was still sitting atop the crates, boredom written across her face.
With her bass resting on her lap, she idly played a few notes while murmuring a couple of verses.
She lifted her head at the sound of hurried footsteps.
Stepping out from the warehouse shadows, two vampires emerged into the light spilling in from the doorway.
Recognizing her, they stopped in front of her.
One of them scowled.
"You again?"
"Oh, it's you—the one who ran."
He was the same vampire they had encountered in the forest.
His arm had already regenerated.
At the taunt, a vein throbbed on his forehead.
Still, he bared a hungry smile at her, slowly circling with the other vampire to box her in.
"This time, it's me—two against one, bitch."
Marceline scowled in disgust, her brow furrowing.
"Why do you guys keep saying that? Bunch of weirdos."
As soon as she finished—the vampires lunged wildly.
The one from the forest went for her head, while launching himself forward.
With a quick spin, Marceline slashed at the coward's chest—he barely dodged.
Carrying the momentum of the turn, she snapped a kick straight into the other vampire's face, shattering his nose.
As he stumbled, disoriented, she shifted her focus back to the coward, who rushed in again.
He threw an open-handed jab, but she ducked, the strike passing through her hair.
In the next instant, using the tip of her axe, she drove an upward blow into his jaw, shattering his teeth as his brain slammed against his skull.
She turned to the other vampire.
He had already shaken off his daze, grinding his teeth incessantly, rage burning in his eyes as he clutched his broken nose.
"I'm going to kill you."
In a blind charge, he rushed her, driven by vengeance.
"Do you ever say anything else? You should open your mind a little more."
With that, she swung her axe in an upward arc, splitting the vampire's head in two.
The vampire fell backward, his body twitching on the floor.
Marceline approached him calmly, retrieving her stake, then driving it through his heart.
As the vampire crumbled into dust, she walked over to the coward.
He was still on the ground, disoriented, struggling to recover.
"You good there? You don't look so great."
"Vuck yu."
"What? I can't understand you with all your teeth broken."
As she laughed, someone stepped out from between the shelves.
"Looks like you're done here too."
Kris said, emerging from the shadows.
Behind him, a vampire dragged along by the collar.
"Hm? You grabbed one too?"
"Of course. Two is always more convenient."
After saying that, he roughly tossed the vampire onto a crate, and Marceline grabbed the coward by the collar and did the same.
With the two side by side, the coward glanced over to confirm who else had been captured.
It was the same vampire who had greeted him earlier.
"Alright then, here's how this goes."
Their attention snapped to Kris as he crouched in front of them.
"The one who tells me where the Fool is… walks out of here alive."
The vampire beside the coward simply rolled his eyes with a mocking grin.
Do they think we're idiots? It's obvious they'll kill us anyway. Might as well die without giving them the satisfa—
"Th-there are some ruins nearby…! He was there a few days ago!"
The coward cut his own thought short, blurting out the information, his words slurred through his broken teeth.
The vampire beside him could only stare in outrage.
Fucking idiot… useless bastard.
Kris simply gave him a closed-eye smile.
"That was easy, wasn't it? Thanks for your cooperation."
Without hesitation, he drove the stake through the coward's heart, his eyes widening one last time before he turned to dust.
He shifted his attention to the last vampire.
"Anything to add?"
Lifting his chin, the vampire spat at him—only for it to turn to vapor the moment it touched his face.
"Fuck you."
"Disgusting."
he replied, driving the stake into the vampire.
He turned to Marceline, who was leaning against the doorway, waiting for him.
"Find anything thistime?" She asked with a faint smile.
"Yes. He's somewhere nearby."
"Then lead the way, sensor."
He only let out a soft chuckle before setting off down a trail—with her right behind him.
|Some time later|
They had finally reached the city.
The moon had already crossed half the sky, now shining intensely at its highest point.
The city was completely deserted—the constant sound of buildings corroding the only thing breaking the silence.
Kris walked through the streets with his eyes closed, his expression deeply focused.
But his concentration was broken—once again—by Marceline, smashing open a few stalls and food trucks.
"Look, if you keep getting in my way, we're never going to find him."
She turned to him with a bored look.
"I doubt a high-class works like a minion. You've been searching for an hour already."
"And you think breaking things is going to help us find him?"
"He's a lunatic. He doesn't think like a normal person."
As she said that, she opened a cabinet inside a food truck.
"Yeah? And have you found anything?"
"If you stop complaining, maybe I will."
"Hm? What are we looking for?"
Both of them froze.
Inside the cabinet, a small vampire—with only a single fang—was twisted tightly to fit inside, staring at them with a smile.
I didn't even sen—
Kris thought as he tried to turn toward him, but in a single instant, he was gone from where he stood.
"Kris!"
The vampire had grabbed his jacket and shot off like a rocket, tearing through several buildings.
With each impact tore into his body..
Shit.
He tried to use his stake to kill him, but the vampire twisted midair to dodge and, using the same motion, grabbed him with his other hand and hurled him into the ground.
As he fell, he crashed onto a shop, tearing through the roof and slamming into a crate, smashing it apart and dust erupting around him.
"Ah—shit. And this is the weakest one?"
When he stepped out of the dust, his body was completely mangled.
His back and arms were ruined, while half of his face had been torn away.
This is going to be a pain to fix.
He didn't have time for that—the vampire's laughter was getting closer.
"Alright. This is going to be rough."