Screams of the little girl filled the air as the man jammed a piece of glass into her arm. All she knew was that she had to get away, she had to run, and she had to get away from this man. With a grunt of pain, she quickly ducked under the man’s legs and ran towards the door. She knew that if she could get past it, all would be right again, all she had to do was keep running. Suddenly, she stopped and felt like she stopped breathing. The man had grabbed the back of her shirt, and with a grunt, threw her out the third story window of the apartment. She heard cracks of bones as she hit the ground, and more people seemed to arrive around her, all chuckling as they came closer. All but one; there was a man at the entrance to the alley who looked on with disinterest, and the girl knew that he could save her. “Will you be my Monster?” she painfully asked before she stopped breathing. And that was the end of her.

Nick’s eyes opened to stare at the dark ceiling of the room. Whimpers came from the other side of the room where Sarah slept. Xashi had decided to give Nick and Sarah some privacy after Nick lost his arm, and had asked Emma to give him a different room. The redhead sighed as he threw off the covers and walked over to the bed where Sarah seemed to be having another nightmare. The sweat dripped down her forehead as her face contorted into expressions of fear and pain.

The redhead sighed again as he gently wiped the sweat from her brow. It had been a while since he had to do this, but it wasn’t that bad of a duty. Who knew that the incarnate of evil would do so much to stop a little girl from having a nightmare? “Sleep little angel, don’t make a sound. For if you keep crying, the world won’t go round. Bring your little dreams back into your head, for if you keep crying, the world will go dead.” His rough voice carried on into the night, not spoiling the song, but carrying a comforting quality to it. Like a papa bear singing his children back to sleep. “The darkness will keep you till the morn light. So trust in your Monster, and abandon fright.” he finished the song in a soft note as Sarah’s whimpers faded back into peaceful breathing.

“Sorry kiddo.” He whispered as he planted a gentle kiss on the girl’s temple. “Looks like you’re going to get dragged into this shit after all.” His whispered voice echoed in the silence as he disappeared through the door.

---

“Hey bastard. What’s got you up at this hour?” the redheaded vampire asked as Nick walked into the courtyard. “I know that as a Monster, you can plead the ‘I don’t need to sleep’ clause, but that would make Sarah worry. Want to talk over a smoke?” Chris pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one for himself, and holding the pack towards the knife thrower.

“Thanks.” Nick said with uncharacteristic gratitude as he pulled one of the tobacco sticks from the box and lit it. “I’m seeing her nightmares again.” His voice betrayed how worried he was about the event.

From the moment a Child awakens when the make a contract with their Monster, the original host of the child (that being their original body and, somewhat, personality) dies in that instant. They are completely reborn from that moment forward, without any memories of their past. Luci was an exception from this rule, perhaps it was because of who her Monster was or her strong feelings towards the memories, but she did not forget her past life and continued with the burdens of those terrible memories.

“If she doesn’t remember anything, she shouldn’t be having those.” Nick’s new hand made a crunching sound as he gripped it. “This has been happening more and more often since she saw your moment of contract. What exactly did you-”

“There’s good news, and then there’s bad news about this whole deal Nicky.” Chris interrupted as the redheaded circus performer was about to go off on one of his rants. “The good news is that those aren’t her memories; they’re Luci’s, she saw enough of our contract for it to be engraved in her soul.” He took a puff of the cigarette and let it out slowly before continuing, “The bad news is that because that happened, she has the potential to regain her memories. The ones from before she was ‘Sarah’, before she was a Child.”

“And? Why is that bad news? If the ones from the dreams aren’t hers, then-”

“Your moment of contract was much worse than mine, the one you keep seeing.” Chris interrupted again. “And trust me, if she summoned the spirit of evil to become her protector, her memories are a lot worse.” The vampire chuckled as he snuffed out his cigarette and prepared to leave before Nick stopped him.

“Wait, what was the bad news?” he asked with a sinking feeling. Whenever this person said there was bad news, it was normally a huge understatement. “Why would it be bad for her to regain her memories, besides the pain it would cause?”

The redhead looked back at Nick with a remorseful smile. “Because, depending on how she acts after regaining them, I may have to kill her.” And with those final words, the vampire vanished into the moonlight.

“Fucker! As if I’d let you do that to my daughter…”

---

The next day went by rather uneventfully. What with Emma and the other judges preparing for the semi-finals, the competitors were practically left to themselves. Sion seemed to be content sitting around and doing nothing, Leonhard and Rosa seemed to be filling their time with random chatting with each other, as well as the other competitors, and Elliot and Pell… Well, they found many different ways to ignore, and physically harm in Pell’s case, each other. Sarah contented herself to surfing the web on her laptop, and Nick was either: practicing handling knives with his new arm, fiddling around with the armband he had put on his left arm, and snoozing.

“All right, then!” Emma chirped as she entered the courtyard, “Now we will begin the semi-finals. Will the competitors please line up?”

A variety of sounds replied to this; ranging anywhere from brisk “okay’s”, cheerful replies, grumbling sounds of exasperation, and groans. “So, what exactly are you going to be dragging us through this time?” Rosa said with a critical eye at the ringmaster. Just because Leon was getting his memories that he wanted so much back, didn’t mean that she was going to forgive the woman for hurting him, even if unintentional.

“Well, let’s leave that up to chance, shall we?” the ringmaster smiled as she pulled off her top hat and began to dig her hand into it, making something that sounded like paper rustle. “The matches for round 3 will be…” She trailed off as she dragged two slips of paper out of the hat. “Leonhard and Rosa versus Sion!” Emma turned to the three remaining competitors, “And that leaves Elliot and Pelaiah against Nick! If the former pairing would please step inside the building, I will be there in a minute to give you your challenge.”

The three competitors nodded, wished luck to the other participants, and headed inside. “So what exactly will we be doing this time?” Nick grumbled as he watched the others leave. The night before he had willingly joined the rebellion out of some random act of goodwill that he had no idea where it had come from, but that didn’t mean that he had quite forgiven the ringmaster for being the inadvertent loss of his arm. Yes, he could use his special brand of magic through his right arm easier now, but the phantom pain might be just a little high for an ability he could already use for little cost. “Wait, don’t tell me. We have to convince Onyx to walk into a haunted house, right?”

Emma chuckled as she pulled her top hat out in front of her once more. “We shall see. Oh yes! I lost the dice, so we will be drawing the categories out of my hat today.” She smiled as she brought out two slips of paper, one black and one white. “Hmm, this is interesting. Your challenge is social skills and presentation in a dreamscape.”

Nick looked like he was about to lose it at “I lost the dice,” but his impending outburst of laughter was silenced by Pell’s own, but this one of icy hatred. “I suppose I will be the one competing in this one, since Elliot lacks the social skills to hold a conversation with a gnat.” She said as she flipped her hair off her shoulder and walked up to Emma. “Can I trust you not to disappear on me this time, Elliot?”

Both Nick and Sarah winced at the dual look of apology and hurt on Elliot’s face. “Hey, did something happen to them after you lost your arm?” Sarah asked with a confused look adorning her face, “We didn’t spend much time with them, we only saw them a couple of times including the feast after the first round, but I don’t remember them being like this…” she trailed off as she looked to her friend for the answer.

“How am I supposed to know? I was kind of unconscious from the blood loss.” The redhead grumbled as he looked at the fighting couple. “Maybe they just had a night of bad sex.”

“Hey! You shouldn’t say things like that! It’s rude!” Sarah exclaimed while looking at Elliot’s face, who, if a more emotional person, would probably be dripping with tears by now. “Much less to a ten-year-old!”

“I’m, let’s see if I can remember all of them, incarnate of evil, darkness personified, a worse sinner than the devil himself who, by the way, is sometimes called Old Nick…” the Monster paused to catch his breath before continuing, “and you think I’m worried about being rude? I think your priorities are a little confused.”

“It’s not only rude to do that behind their backs, but he’s a dhampir!” Sarah groaned, hoping her suspicions were not about to be confirmed. “That means he’s probably heard everything we’ve said, so you were being rude to his face!” the duo turned to look at the half-blood, who indeed, was watching them with a sorrowful expression that told them both he had heard the whole thing. Nick, trying to appease Sarah, did the only thing he could think of to try and cheer the dhampir up.

“Keep your pecker up! It tends to work wonders during sex.” He said as he gave the vampire boy a smile and thumbs up.

“NICK!!!”

---

Laura walked into the dark cavern as drops of moisture fell from the ceiling to the floor, causing the sounds to make a hollow echo across the rooms of the cave. As she tread up the stairs carved into the stone, she began to see a crystal in the center of the room, completely clear and filled with some sort of liquid. Two humans resided in this stone chamber, one who was floating dormant in the crystal and the other who watched with a sad smile on his face as runic patterns flowed from him, into the crystal and on to the slumbering man, and back. “Why have you come here, magician of Britain?” the man asked in a deep voice.

Laura kneeled in front of the man to show her respect, while trying to keep her eyes from both his handsome exterior and the Endless Chasm behind him, which was rumored to house Britain’s little ace in the hole, Liobi. “Sir, I have come to request a command spell over a legion of Britain’s already assembled Dusks.”

“And why, pray tell, would I be inclined as to grant you that request?” the man said as he turned around to face the kneeling woman. He wore only a pair of baggy white pants, leaving his torso bare to the cold from the cave. His brown hair was messy, but in a style to look like it had been meant to look that way, and his chiseled body was surely the subject of desire for many woman, and even a few men. The man floating in the liquid of the crystal looked almost identical to the other man, lacking the pants, chiseled muscles, and intentional messy hair of course. One could almost say they were twins.

“Because, sir, you once promised me that if an unknown could take down one of Ireland’s finest operatives with ease, you would sign over the legion of Dusks from the Endless Chasm yourself.” The burnet replied with ease. She might not have been much in the power department, but now that they were in negotiation, the office worker could not be beat. “I believe Nickolas Sanchez qualifies for these requirements. Or do you not believe in honoring your promises, Mr. Valentine?”

The man clenched his teeth at the mention of a name he had not heard in over a century. His own. “Be gone, I’ll have no part in your childish games. Besides, Nickolas Sanchez is far from an unknown, but I shall grant you the power you seek because of just this.” he once again turned his back to her. “Leave now.”

Laura fought to quench the anger that welled within her chest. “But sir! What about the legion?”

“Check your arms.” The man said spitefully as he looked down into the chasm, and glanced his eyes over the infinite number of chains that ran from the walls down somewhere far below, chaining the Angel of the Apocalypse to his slumber. “Or have they stopped teaching their mages how to properly command troops with spells since I was at the academy last?”

The office worker quickly pushed up her sleeves, and saw a glowing tattoo that had not been there moments ago. “Thank you, sir.” She said as she stood and crisply walked out of the stone cavern.

“Xerxes, you fool.” The man muttered to himself. “What have you gotten yourself into now?” His eyes traveled from the chasm to the crystal where the other man lay. “I truly wish I could apologize to you now, Joshua. Just once to make it up for betraying you and Melinda so long ago. Perhaps us Valentines are just destined for mishap, eh brother?”

---

“Onyx, please come out from behind the tree, we need you for but a moment.” Emma gently called to the shy man who was trying his best to hide from the ringmaster despite the fact that he was blind. The man whimpered, but finally relented and clutched Emma’s hand with his own as she led him to the center of the courtyard. “The dream you will be participating in is that of Onyx. The goal is to get more children to come to the circus than your opponent. Now, let the third round begin!” she chirped as the image of a clock face appeared beneath the contestants, it’s hands spinning faster and faster until finally, they were no longer in the courtyard, or even close to each other, for that matter.

Nick’s eyebrows rose at the sight before him. The scenery didn’t look like that of a dream, but of a nightmare! “Jeez, no wonder that guy looks so scared all the time, especially if this is how he sees the world.” He muttered as he looked at the landscape. The sky was a bleak gray, Nick couldn’t tell if it was thick cloud cover or not, and the trees looked dark and menacing against the white ground. He was about to go elsewhere to start his search when he noticed a young boy hiding behind the tree. “Hey there, buddy. Want to come to the circus with me?” He asked in the most soothing voice he could manage. Hey, Sarah found it soothing; the kid couldn’t be that different.

Oh how wrong he was. At the first words he spoke, the child took off as fast as he could, screaming at the top of his lungs all the while. Before the redhead could even say “Hey, wait up!” though, the child ran by a tree which snatched him off the ground and tossed him into something that looked like a gaping maw. What the fuck!!? Trees eat kids in this dream? What the hell happened to Onyx to make him like this? the redhead thought in astonishment as he watched what he thought before was just a useless stack of wood happily munching on the child.

On the other side of the forest, however, Pell was having a problem which resembled Nick’s very closely, yet different. The tree was not currently happy because it was munching on some random child, but because it was giving Pell the tightest hug she’d ever had in her life. WHAT THE HELL!!? she mentally screamed.

---

Elliot sighed as he sat in front of the Valentine Theatre. He hadn’t meant to make Pell worry like that, hell, he didn’t even know she would worry! “Having love problems, kiddo?” said the familiar voice of his uncle as he walked up behind Elliot, Luci riding on his shoulder.

“Something like that.” Elliot said as he gave an ironic smirk. “I really can’t tell her where I went, even though it was to ensure her safety. And now she hates me for it.”

Luci looked from Elliot’s gloomy face to Chris’s strangely sympathetic one a few times before she had finally had enough of the silence. “Jeez, why don’t you two just fuck and make up already?” she groaned.

Elliot choked as he shot a look at Luci and then towards Chris with raised eyebrows. The redheaded vampire chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, she didn’t exactly pick up my best qualities since she’s been with me.”

This only made Elliot’s eyebrows go further up his forehead. “You have good qualities?”

“Oh, shut up.”

Luci giggled as she watched her caretaker and his nephew. For people that were not related by blood, they had a pretty good relationship. A sigh of contentment was just about to escape her lips when a gigantic invisible pressure came down, making her feel as if the very air was being squeezed out of her lungs. “What… What is this?” She asked, bits of uneasiness and fear trickling into her voice.

Chris’s face had gone serious; the endless smile had become almost unnoticeable as he looked at the sky. “If it’s what I think it is, we’re in deep shit.”

---

Pell groaned as she walked out of the forest and into the clearing where the dark, looming circus tent stood in the center. Apparently, the trees weren’t the only things in this dream that were prone to hugging her. The children she was supposed to find, convince, and lead were finding her, wrapping their boney arms around her legs and waist, and refusing to let go. “Oh come on!!” A voice screamed behind her, causing the seven or so children to push their faces into the blond nymph tighter. “I even try to say ‘hi’ to one of these kids, and they take off screaming like the devil’s on their tails, and end up either disappearing or eaten by trees!”Nick stormed out of the forest, glaring at Pell. His mannequin arm seemed to shine in an eerie light within the dream.

She winced and turned away as her eyes caught sight of what was her fault. “That looks painful, are you used to it yet?” She asked, trying to find a way to walk with the children bunching around her.

“Hell no. There’s no way on earth that I’m ever going to get used to this.” Nick said, referring to the black eye he was sporting from trying to stop a kid from being eaten by a tree. Not only had the tree punched him after chomping the kid, the kid had kicked him in the balls as hard as he could before he ran right into the open maw. “It really sucks, I could use this for so much more, before it happened.” This was true; the blood was dripping into his eye.

“Oh…” Pell felt even worse now. He couldn’t use his new arm as well as the old one? Would it affect his ability to get a job? She knew he was a knife thrower, and for that they needed utmost precision. If his arm now lacked that, she might have doomed him and Sarah for a life of poverty (well, more so than normal anyways). “I’m sorry, I wish I could help.”

Nick waved off her apology. “Ah, don’t worry about it. You had nothing to do with it.” They were in front of the big top now, and the entrance left a lot to be desired. “Jeez, I think the forest was less scary than this.” Nick said as he looked at what appeared to be a demonic face that made up the entrance and a creepy chalkboard beside it with his name on the top of one side, and Pell’s on the other with a line between them. “I guess this is the scoreboard.”

Pell looked away and walked into the big top. A screech was heard behind her, sounding like a mix between nails against the chalkboard and a scream. When she turned around there was a seven under her name. “It would appear so.” She said as she stepped outside the tent before another screech was heard. She looked at the chalkboard once more to see that the space under her name was now blank again. The nymph looked down to see that the children were still hanging on to her.

“Heh, looks like you’re going to have a hard time convincing them to stay.” Nick chuckled as he watched the children nuzzle up to the blond lady. “Wait… Convince them to come, convince them to stay… I got it!”

---

“What are those?” Elliot asked as the three looked at the giant black domes that had appeared in the middle of the city from the roof. “And why do they keep growing?”

Christopher groaned. Just what he needed, Dusks! He glanced at the top of the domes, hoping not to see what he looked for, but his hope was unfulfilled. “The Psalms of Solomon.” He whispered as he looked at the dark halos above the domes. They were made out of giant, special runes made to summon things from the spiritual realm. “The runes only used by the angels, and their using them to summon Dusks?! Are they nuts!?”

Elliot glanced at Christopher with a puzzled expression from their roof-top perch. “I thought Dusks already existed, how would you summon them?”

Christopher sighed. It looked like they were about to have a real hell of a fight on their hands in a little bit. “You really don’t want to know.” He muttered as he looked towards the darkening horizon to see hundreds of Dusks flying towards the city. “Luci?”

“Oh, all right.” The little girl grumbled as she bit her tongue before kissing the vampire and letting the blood flow into his mouth. “There, that should be enough to deal with this. Are you happy now?”

Christopher’s eyes slowly began to glow red as the whites turned black. “Very.” He chuckled as he jumped off the building and grabbed onto a Dusk that was flying by. “Hereeeesssss Jimmy!” he cackled as he yanked on the cloaked figure, causing it to swerve and fly into the building with a “CRUNCH” sound. “Yo, Elliot! You gonna help?”

The dhampir sighed before he leapt off the building and landed in front of a woman and her child, crushing the hidden skull of the Dusk that was trying to attack them. “You might want to get to a safe place.” He growled at the duo, annoyed that they were frozen in fear. “You know, one that isn’t being attacked by grim reaper look-alikes.”

The woman nodded as she turned and ran as fast as she could, dragging her shell-shocked son by the arm. “Not even a thank you, eh?” Chris chuckled as Elliot spun and dragged his claws through one of the Dusks that tried to pursue the family. “Oh well, at least you’ll always be in the woman’s heart as he knight in… does casual clothes count as shining armor?” he said as he let go of the wall and put his fist through the Dusk’s head before falling to the ground. “Anyways, we’d better start heading towards the dome…”

The vampire trailed off as Dusks started coming out of the shadowed dome. People that were near the area were quickly covered by the Dusks as sounds of screams and the ripping of meat reached the trio. “Well fuck.” The redhead growled. “Luci, stay here!” He shouted to the blond girl on top of the building as he took off towards the spot.

“Where the hell am I supposed to go!?” the girl shouted back at him. “I’m on the fucking roof!”

Elliot charged ahead, trying desperately to save any of the people. He quickly reached the first victim and, not knowing what else to do, yanked on the cloak of the Dusk, trying to drag it off the screaming woman. Instead, he just yanked off the cloak, revealing the horror to the rest of the world. “What… The… Hell?” he gasped, trying to keep his lunch down.

“Ah, yes. You’ve discovered the true form of the Dusks.” Chris said as he walked up to the eating creature and snapped its neck. It was the naked and broken body of a woman that had been beneath the cloak. Most of her legs were missing, and her body was rotting at an incredible pace. In fact, the only thing left of her hands was the bones. “Humans who have had their light, their life, that is, replaced with the darkness, and then they become Dusks.”

Elliot shook his head before his eyes glowed yellow for a second, and the remaining Dusks exploded, splattering across the street. “So, we going in there or not?” he coldly asked as he walked towards the dome. “Let’s end this.”

---

Screams could be heard throughout the forest as children came spilling out of the woods, running as fast as they could. Pell struggled to keep a straight face as Nick came out of the forest, running strangely and cackling all the way as he chased the children into the big top. The chalkboard screeched as a number appeared under his name. “Six? That’s odd, I could’ve sworn that I was chasing at least eight in the beginning… Maybe they just got eaten by trees or something.”

“Dare I ask what you’re doing?” Pell said as she struggled to control the twitching in her eyebrow while trying to get her children into the big top.

Nick chuckled. “Well, my social skills are pretty terrible, and these kids are a lot like Onyx, scared of everything.” He glanced at the nymph. “Well, almost everything. So all I had to do was convince them that what was out here was scarier than what was inside the tent.” The knife thrower looked over at Pell and smirked. He walked over, picked up one of the children that surrounded the blond nymph by her collar, and punted her through the entrance of the tent.

The chalkboard screeched again as Nick’s six was replaced with a seven. Pell sighed as she prepared to go back into the forest to get some more children before she noticed the two behind Nick who were slowly inching away from the eccentric circus performer. “Oh, don’t be shy, come here.” Pell gently called. As soon as they noticed her, they quickly ran to her and hugged her tight. Pell gave nick a smirk and walked into the tent.

“Damn, so that’s where they were.” The redhead muttered. A look of surprise came over his face before he bent over, clutching his chest above his heart in pain. “What the hell?” he grunted before the dreamscape shuddered, and the two found themselves on top of a building, the sky around them filled with ashes falling like snowflakes. “Todo, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

---

“Emma, we might be in need of assistance.” Maestro said as he walked into the building where Emma had just seen the other competitors off. The ringmaster turned to face her friend with a smile on her face.

“Yes, what is it?” She chirped. She had placed Maestro in charge of that night’s dinner, so she naturally thought the problem would have been about that.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t. “The competitors have disappeared without a trace from Onyx’s illusion.” He sighed, really, what was it with Emma’s tournaments going horribly wrong? “It looks like they were teleported to someplace within the city by a large source of energy, but we can’t pinpoint where it came from or where they are.”

“Tut, tut.” A voice from the corner quipped. Melinda Valentine stepped from the shadows on the wall to look at her granddaughter. “It looks like my brother-in-law’s finally made his move.” She sighed as she looked at the glowing clock in her hands. “I’m afraid I can’t be of any use as of now, but you should have some people here that can stand against Xerxes.”

Emma looked like she had been slapped. “Uncle? He’s the one that took them?” she gasped. “Contact all the Broken Hearts headquarters immediately, Maestro.” She cursed, the rebellion would have to move sooner than she thought if her uncle was going to come out of his hidden cave. “Tell them war has broken out.”

---

“Damn!” Chris swore as he ripped the head off of yet another Dusk. These things were practically endless! It didn’t help that the dome was making new ones with every human that was either there when it appeared or had been forced into the hemisphere of shadows. “Elliot, how’s your end coming?”

Elliot growled as he teleported onto one of the Dusks that was flying overhead and snapped its neck. “Fine, just fine, thanks.” He said with a snarl. They were inside the biggest dome that had appeared, and it was pretty close to the center of the city. He was, quite frankly, annoyed out of his mind. Any time he killed a Dusk, two more took its place, and this endless ballad of bloodshed continued. “Is there any way to completely stop these things?” he shouted at the other vampire.

Chris grunted as he shoved his claws into the chest of a Dusk and ripped out its heart. “Well, we could find the person who’s controlling them and kill them, but that might take too much… oh shit.” He growled as he noticed the hundreds of Dusks all flying and converging on one spot. Slowly they lost their individual forms, becoming one giant mass. The hands of the giant
Dusk were no longer skeletal, but covered in gray flesh and had pointed claws at the end. The hood fell back to reveal not the face of a human, but that of a demon. The cloak had become longer, and now with a gray scarf like thing hanging from the robe. “We are so fucked.” Chris muttered as the giant Dusk threw back its head and let out a roar that would chill the bones of even the most hardened soldier.

---

“Why do you think the dream changed?” Pell asked as she looked around at the scenery. The ashes falling from the sky looked like a gruesome parody of snowflakes, and the shadowed twilight that cloaked the area chilled her bones. “And where’s the big top? How are we supposed to figure out the challenge now?”

“I don’t think that the round is going on anymore.” Nick said as he scanned the horizon. It sure looked like London, maybe after a nuclear fallout that is. “I don’t even think we’re at the headquarters anymore. This sure doesn’t feel like an illusion.”

Pell nodded. Although it had the same gloomy atmosphere, this city felt different than the forest where they had been a short while ago. “So what are we supposed to do now?” She asked before she heard the quiet sobs of a child. She quickly looked around the roof and spotted the little girl curled up in the corner of the roof. “Are you okay?” She asked as she walked over and put her hand on the girl’s shoulder.

The girl’s sobs stopped. “Mommy, is that you?” she wailed. “Mommy, it’s so dark here, I don’t like it. Where are you mommy? I want to see you, where are you I want you I need you I’m scared mommy where are you I need someone to tell me it’s all right where are you wherewherewherewherewherewherewherewhere!!!!????” the little girl’s voice became louder as she went on until she was finally screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Shit!” Nick shouted as he grabbed Pell’s shoulder and pulled her back from the girl right before the child turned to face them. Her shaggy hair hung over her face, not hiding the empty eye-sockets or the strings that stitched across her mouth. In an instant, she jumped towards the duo, clawing the air with her tiny little hands. Nick grunted before his right arm shot out, piercing the child’s chest. With a gasp, she faded into mist and floated away. “What the hell!?” Nick swore. “Why the fuck are ghasts here?” he asked, referring to the spirits formed by newly dead people with grudges or no idea that they died. “If they’re here, than that means… Oh shit.”

Pell looked to where the mist from the little girl was going, and saw it being absorbed by something that looked like a grim reaper. “Please tell me that isn’t a Dusk.” She muttered to the redhead.

“Okay, I won’t tell you.” He growled as he smashed his wooden fist into the approaching creature. More were appearing now as the two retreated to the center of the roof to face the oncoming horde. “Can you fight them?” he muttered to the nymph.

“The air here is filled with water, I should be fine.” She muttered back as she raised her hand and shot off a water bullet at one of the Dusks that had decided to charge them. “Why, can’t you?”

“Hardeeharhar.” Nick growled as more of the creatures started charging. Now was not the time for conversation, now it was time for fighting. He quickly intercepted one of the Dusks that was headed for Pell and smashed it into the concrete floor. Another one came at him from the side as he quickly slashed one of his knives through its head and then threw the blade into one that was trying to sneak up behind Pell.

She looked at the redhead and nodded her thanks as the water in the air formed a swirling blade that flowed around her body and slashed the Dusks as they came close to her. She saw some of them about to gang up on Nick. Cant have any of that now, can we? she thought as she raised her hand and used some of the water blade to form bullets and watched as they took off the heads of those Dusks.

Soon, it began to flow together. Spin, cut, shoot, slice, smash, punch, spear, all of the actions of the duo flowed together against the endless swarm of Dusks. A teamwork born of desperation turned into something that many combat specialists hunted for their entire lives, the perfect combination; Nick’s savage, up close and personal style balanced by Pell’s mid-ranged, defensive/offensive one. It was almost a shame to see it end. “Pell! Watch out!” A voice screamed from far away.

“Elliot?” Pell exclaimed as the water formed a dragon and ripped apart the Dusks surrounding her and Nick.  The voice was indeed Elliot’s, he was running as fast as he could, jumping rooftop to rooftop to chase what looked like a giant Dusk. It was probably two stories tall, and it was approaching them at a horrifying speed. With a screech, it soared into the air before diving at Pell.

“Pell!” Elliot screamed as he reached deeper into his vampire powers than he had ever dared before. With all his might, he ripped through time and space to teleport to where Pell was, and knocked her out of the way.

The Dusk screamed as it ran into the ground, dust clouding the air around its target. It knew that it had to attack the nymph, with as much light as she shined, she would be a threat in the future. When the dust cleared, it realized with horror that it had not crushed its target, but had instead trapped the pesky dhampir under its hand. Elliot smirked as he wrapped his arms around the arm of the giant Dusk, while his eyes glowed neon yellow. “Die!” he growled as the Dusk screamed in fear.

---

Laura sat in the center of a rune circle, flashes of information rushing about in her head. Controlling over a thousand Dusks was a massive achievement for anyone, especially one who had barely passed the Class 3 examination. She smiled as she realized the Priest, that was what the giant Dusk was called, was on its way to eliminate Nickolas Sanchez. “Hmm, ironic spot to hide. A witch inside the church?” a voice called from the shadows.

“What!? Who’s there?” she shouted, there was no way she should have been found. Anyone who was normal would have been absorbed and transformed into a Dusk only by entering the dome. That increased as they drew closer to the church. For someone to walk into it, they must have already been dead!

“You really lack imagination.” The voice sighed as a redheaded man walked out of the shadows, before he looked at the magician to reveal his horrifying eyes. “This place reeks of so much demonic magic, it’s not even funny. I guess it’s a good thing I sent Elliot after the Priest.” He said as he slowly walked towards the alter, where Laura and her protection circle resided.

“Don’t be an idiot!” Laura exclaimed as the man walked closer to her circle. She had had it specially made. Anything that tried to pass was immediately drained of all their life. “If you come any closer, you’ll die in the most painful way possible!” she had to control her fear, there was no way that this man would be able to do anything to her, no matter how confident he seemed.

Instead, the redhead just smirked and took the last steps into the circle. The runes under his feet glowed brightly and shot out a wall of violet light to warn him of coming any closer. The man just chuckled again as he put his hand into the wall of light and ripped open a space for himself to pass through. “You were saying?”

Laura collapsed. This was too much, there was no way this was possible. Her fear overwhelmed her as wet warmth began to pool around her, and an unpleasant smell came to her nose. “How…”

“I’m a vampire, one of the queen’s finest in fact.” The man stated simply with a chuckle and a shrug.

"Who are you?"

"Christopher Shawl." The vampire answered cheerily.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Don’t be silly, your fate is far worse than death.” And at his words, the church was filled with screams.

---

Later, Valentine Hospital.

“We are unable to determine when he will wake up.” The doctor said to the blond woman who watched over the young man in the hospital bed. “His vitals are strong, but the effect of absorbing as much darkness as he did from the Priest is unknown. It is likely that he will be in a coma for a very long time. I’m sorry.”

Pell nodded as the doctor left the room, her clipboard left for all to see on the man’s nightstand. “Emma, you can come in now.”

The ringmaster walked into the room with a sorrowful expression. “I’m sorry, Nick told me this would happen if I involved the tournament with the rebellion.” She sat in a chair next to the nymph. “I can guarantee that our doctors will do anything they can to help Elliot.”

Pell gave a soft smile before she turned to face Emma. “I would like to withdraw from the tournament.”

Emma looked up at the smiling woman with a confused face. “Are you sure? You had more points than Nick when the round was interrupted. By all means, you should be the winner.”

Pell gave a small smile as she looked at the doorway, seeing the edge of a black trench coat. Nick was outside the door, concerned in his own way. “I’m sure. Elliot has more darkness within him now than ever before, but I want him to know that there will always be a small light beside him no matter what. I plan to be here when he wakes up.” She smiled as she watched the dhampir slumber in silence.

---

Nick walked away from the room with a smirk and Sarah clinging to his arm. Maybe their story would have a happy ending after all.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!