Blood-Mage Hunters

The beginning or the end?

Cyrus and Lucius kept advancing through the many corridors and hallways of the palace, the guards and the vampire army already having been taken care of by the Rebellion Army. They didn't kill any of them, since their goal was to kill the king and save everyone under his control, but they knocked them out using Lucius's powerful sleeping potion, so they wouldn't bother them any more.

However, everything was a little too quiet. Their plan seemed to be going perfectly, but both Lucius and Cyrus had a bad feeling in their gut. They quickly pushed their doubts aside, focusing on getting to the king. They had checked almost all the rooms in which Aragoth could be, but he was in none of them. The only place left was the palace's back garden, where the king sometimes came to relax.

The two vampires stealthily made their way towards that garden, exiting the palace and reentering the cold, night air. Rows of beautiful flowers and trees surrounded them, an elegant path in the middle. They scanned their surroundings, looking out for any possible enemies, but they were completely alone.

"Could the king not be here?" Lucius asked, his voice merely above a whisper.

"Maybe he's somewhere else?" Cyrus suggested even though they knew that was highly unlikely, since they already checked every nook and cranny of the palace. The bad feeling they had grew even stronger as they began thinking of the worst case scenario.

"We have to leave," Lucius suddenly said, realizing a deadly flaw in his plan. Both of them turned around, ready to retreat, but they stopped dead in their tracks when a voice came from behind them, sending chills down their spines.

"Leaving so soon? I've been waiting for you," Aragoth mockingly said, laughing.

Lucius and Cyrus slowly turned to face him. From all around them, his army of vampires surrounded them.

"Why are there so many...? They were supposed to be in the south-east," Cyrus whispered under his breath to Lucius, his voice filled with confusion and anxiety.

Lucius was really pale, from both the usage of his mana and from the dread filling his body. "I messed up. I failed to take into consideration the most important factor of this plan. Aragoth has Reia. Reia, the one who understands us the best. Aragoth knew we would try to attack him, so he probably asked Reia to tell him what he thought we were going to do. And he figured out what we were most likely to do. This was a trap," he explained, standing back to back with Cyrus, looking around at all the vampires menacingly approaching them.

Right then, the Rebellion Army dashed through the palace exit, desperately looking around the garden. "It's a trap!" one of them tried to warn Lucius and Cyrus, but then they noticed it was already too late. They looked at their enemies, their hearts falling to their stomachs as they realized just how badly they messed up. However, when they saw Cyrus and Lucius standing in a fighting stance in the middle of it all, something inside of them changed, their eyes filling with new determination. This was also their fight. They weren't going to back down now.

And so, the fight began. The vampire army charged at them, attacking any enemy that came in their way. Cyrus tried using his fire ability, but then he realized it was too dangerous, since he could accidentally kill his own people too, so he settled for good old hand to hand combat, smashing and fighting off the king's vampires while also trying to back up Lucius, who was using the last bit of mana he had left, his skin sickly pale as he bound and stopped the vampires attacking them using the darkness.

"The king! We have to get to the king!" he shouted towards Cyrus, desperately fighting off vampires.

"I know, you fucking idiot! But that's kinda hard, isn't it?" Cyrus snapped at him, punching a vampire that was approaching Lucius. There were too many of them. The king was calmly standing back, watching the madness unfold with a sly, sinister grin on his face, knowing that they stood no chance against so many of his puppets.