Chapter 4: Let’s See How Well You ou Bleed

Screams tore through the night.

In the courtyard, revolutionaries clashed with vampires and undead. Blades rang, magic flared. The air reeked of smoke, blood, and burning flesh. A vampire shrieked as its face melted under holy fire, stumbling into a spear that skewered it clean.

Amid the chaos, Thierry and his elite squad reached the mansion's side entrance. He kicked the door in.

"Move," he said.

They slipped inside, fast and silent. The hallway beyond was dim, red candles flickering along stone walls. From a distance came muffled snarls and the faint sound of crying.

The first vampire lunged out of the shadows—Thierry's blade flashed once. Its body hit the ground, headless.

"Keep moving," he muttered, wiping blood on his coat.

Room by room, they cleared the first floor, the squad moving like clockwork. Vampires fought savagely but were disorganized. More undead than anything. Easy.

At the final hall, Thierry held up a fist. The squad halted.

"We split here," he said. "There's a basement under the western wing. That's where they keep the humans."

He looked at the girl who'd reported to him in Forde.

"Elise. You're in charge."

She blinked, surprised. "Me?"

"You're smart, you're fast, and you know what we're here for. Get down there. Free anyone still breathing."

She nodded, composing herself. "Understood."

"If they can walk, good. If they can't, drag them. Leave no one."

She looked at the others in her team. "You heard him. Let's go."

The group turned and disappeared into the lower corridors.

Thierry adjusted his grip on his twin blades, then looked to the remaining five fighters.

"Second floor. Kill everything."

They moved.

The second floor was thicker with blood. Older vampires—stronger, faster. One came barreling down the hallway with claws drawn, screeching. Thierry ducked the first swipe and ran his blade across its midsection. Another leapt from the side room—his squad skewered it midair with two spears.

"Clear left!" someone shouted.

"Behind!"

They swept through like wolves. Thierry cut down a pale woman in tattered robes, her body falling with a hollow thud.

At the stairwell to the top floor, he stopped.

"Finish sweeping the floor," he said. "Don't get fancy. Be quick."

"You're going up alone?" one asked.

"I didn't come this far to hold hands."

Without waiting for an answer, Thierry ascended the stairs.

⸻

The top floor was… silent.

Each step he took echoed. He passed tall windows, the moonlight casting long beams across the blood-streaked carpet.

A wide set of double doors stood at the end.

He pushed them open.

And stopped.

The throne room was drenched in horror. Humans hung upside-down from iron hooks along the walls. Their throats were slit, their blood slowly dripping down thin silver chains—into a single golden goblet resting on the arm of a high-backed chair.

A vampire sat in it, turned away, watching the window.

From here, Thierry could see the battle still raging in the courtyard below.

The vampire didn't turn.

"Isn't the view beautiful?" he asked.

Thierry didn't answer at first. He took a step in, the door creaking shut behind him.

"It won't be," Thierry said flatly. "Not until your kind are wiped off the earth."

The vampire chuckled lightly. "Always so dramatic."

Thierry stepped forward, unsheathing his twin blades with a metallic whisper. "This ends tonight."

The vampire reached for the goblet and raised it. "You smell like the others."

"What, human?"

"No," he said. "Fear."

He sipped the blood.

His body trembled—first from satisfaction, then… laughter. Soft at first. Then louder. A sick, choked, rising hysteria that echoed through the rafters.

Thierry didn't flinch. But his grip tightened.

The vampire stopped laughing and slowly turned his head. His eyes glowed bright crimson.

"I can taste your fear."

He stood, tall and graceful, the goblet still in hand.

"Let's see how well you bleed."

Thierry lowered his stance. Cold sweat slid down his back. The weight of bloodlust in the air felt suffocating.

He didn't speak.

There was no need to.

He moved.

End of Chapter 4