Lycoris had been repeatedly caught off-guard and slightly annoyed by the fact vampires didn’t need oxygen. It felt embarrassing every time she was reminded of her habits from her time as a human, and it also served as a mostly unpleasant reminder that she wasn’t human anymore.

  But now? She was grateful that she could functionally hold her breath indefinitely. Not having to smell the sewers filled with animal runoff was almost worth the damnation of her immortal soul.

  …It obviously wasn’t, but in these dreary and cramped tunnels, there wasn’t anything for her to otherwise fixate on. Better to keep her spirits afloat with some sardonic humor, rather than despair over being taken hostage.

  But as what seemed an inevitability, her thoughts drifted back to her current plight and how she had made a mess of things.

  All of the preparation and caution in the world hadn’t done any good at all! What was she supposed to do against assassins that could literally turn invisible?

  If she were a more callous person, then she could have ignored her friends and written them off as casualties in the making, and dealt with the two assassins accordingly. But obviously in that case she wouldn’t have come to Condore to take back Emma in the first place, rendering the entire exercise moot.

  If she had been more cautious, anticipated that there would be more than one, and protected the two unconscious women… No, that was just hindsight talking. There wasn’t any reason for her to assume that, and she already had her hands full fighting just the one. Especially given that they had projectile weapons, it would have been a tall order for her to fight back unarmed. Lycoris glanced down at her hands, looking at the cutely rounded and well-manicured fingernails, and the blue stains of blood on the tips. Sharpening them into claws had been an instinct like when she sprouted her wings, but without any sort of technique or training, that alone wouldn’t have been enough to parry a bolt.

  There was no end to the ways in which she could have done things better, and every step they took down the tunnels was just one more mistake being made. But what could she do? She’d been rendered powerless, and her only allies had been taken out before the fight even started.

  Realizing that she had once more started to spiral, she forcibly turned her thoughts elsewhere.

  If only Mizar were here. Not as a little sliver of a thorn bush stuck inside her locket, but actually here with her. He would have been smart enough to figure something out, surely…

  ＊　＊　＊

  Eventually, the tunnel connected to a much wider and unlit cavern with a set of tracks running along it. From those tracks running along the floor, Lycoris recognized it as the territory of those massive serpent-like Whispers, but neither of the emotionless assassins seemed perturbed in the slightest. Though, it would have been rather strange of them to go through all the trouble of kidnapping her just to feed her to the Whispers.

  Sliding her tied-up hands up to her chest, she held the mythril locket underneath the jacket, frowning to herself beneath the hood. It’d have the effect of cloaking her face in shadow, so presumably neither of her “escorts” could tell she was doing anything as long as she didn’t make any sudden movements or sounds.

  Lycoris wasn’t sure how exactly that would help, but… but Mizar wouldn’t give up thinking. He certainly wouldn’t have stopped until they were all safely back at camp and could laugh it off together over a cup of Elham’s abhorrently bitter tea.

  But Mizar had been capable of great magic feats.

  Though, Lycoris should have been able to do the same. If only her mana wasn't trapped inside of her. It reminded her of when she’d first started out training, and her mother had instilled that sense of discomfort and pressure in her, making her hyper-aware of the torrent of power flowing through her veins.

  Wait a second…

  If it was trapped inside of her body, perhaps she could physically release it through her blood. It wasn’t as though the shackles on her wrists could apply to something like liquid. But, she likely wouldn’t be able to control it or shape it like during her practice. At best, she could probably just make a large explosion or something.

  There had to be a better option. Explosions were all well and good, but something like that would be incredibly dangerous inside a tunnel. Plus there was no guarantee she even could manage an explosion. The only sort of magic she had ever been formally taught was…

  “Oh…”

  Lycoris gasped quietly, squeezing the locket with Mizar inside it.

  She didn’t know if the bracelets would prevent her from withdrawing things stored in her blood, but if it was still in there… Then there was a chance. All she’d have to do is calm herself down despite the situation, focus intensely, and perform the “ritual” without letting her captors catch on to what she was doing.

  …

  At least it wasn’t a complicated plan.

  Lycoris crossed her wrists over her heart, trying to do the Kingdom’s salute to calm herself. She couldn’t exactly get her palms to overlap, and the bracelets were somewhat in the way, but the gesture brought a smile to her concealed face. No matter how far away she was from Dauwen, it always felt like taking an old familiar coat out of the wardrobe and finding it still fit.

  Even if the Goddess’s light would no longer shine favorably upon her, she still felt a comforting warmth in her heart. Perhaps in that sense, she wasn’t as damned as she’d first thought. Or perhaps it was Mizar resting against her chest and sharing his own warmth with her that was keeping her soul safeguarded.

  Whatever the case, she had to stifle a small giggle as she felt a surprise twinge of elation. Sometimes the brightest light really was those little stars in the darkest hours of the night…

  Having pulled herself out of the spiral of misery, she slowly exhaled and began focusing on the blood flowing through her, trapped alongside her mana. It would be easy, the same as taking her wings out. She had done that plenty of times. The knife was made of simple crystal wrapped in mythril, she could easily remember its form.

  As silently as she could, she dug her nails into her palm. Considering her magic was sealed, she had to literally start herself bleeding first, wincing as her nails dug into her palm, her mind protesting the act as she forced the tips in all the same.

  Stay calm, Lycoris. Ignore the pain, let the blood flow, and focus on what’s inside of it.

  She had never done anything like this before, and wasn’t sure if it would even work. It felt like some sort of wicked pagan blood ritual, but she didn’t have time to worry about a minor moral quibble like that. Especially considering it was her blood she was using.

  After letting enough flow out of her palm, she sniffled back the tears that had welled up from pain, rubbing the collar of the jacket against her cheeks.

  One of her captors turned around to look at her, though they continued at their rigid pace forward.

  “What is the matter?”

  “Ahm… I just… wh-why are you doing this? Or rather, why is that awful man doing this? Doesn’t he realize how terrifying this is? And how horrible the acts he’s responsible for are?”

  “We cannot speak for the lord on such matters. Those questions would best be directed towards him. Cease—”

  “If you tell me to stop crying, it will only cause me to shed further tears! It’s as though you understand nothing of children…”

  She sniffled loudly to play up the act, pouting up at him despite the fact her face was hidden. He turned back around, deciding not to press the issue further.

  Apparently her bluff worked. Lycoris didn’t think she was a particularly convincing liar, nor did she enjoy doing so, but again… the lives of her companions were on the line. She couldn’t afford to worry about something as petty as pride.

  With the assailants satisfied, Lycoris refocused on her slowly oozing blood, taking care to keep too much from dripping onto the ground. She was walking behind the two silent individuals, so they were unlikely to notice any trailing droplets of blood, but she didn’t want to chance it. Letting it gradually pool in her palm, she carefully stuck her other hand into it, thinking about the azure dagger as she did so.

  After several agonizing seconds, her fingers “slipped” inside of the shallow pool as she connected to the deep well of power within herself, nearly breaking her focus as a twinge of excitement rushed through her.

  Mastering herself, Lycoris drew out the dagger with agonizing slowness, tugging it inch by inch with her fingers. Feeling its sharp edges and smooth handle, the lapis-colored dagger from her mind eventually rested within her palm.

  Lycoris let out a small sigh as the tension faded from her chest, and almost immediately the adrenaline began to subside. She wasn’t sure how many minutes or hours had passed with them just… walking, but the fatigue from moving at such a brisk pace despite her small size was taking its toll. She used to be capable of marching dozens of kilometers in heavy armor, but after so many months living in comfort she had lost that built-up endurance; her legs were sore, and it was probably well past when she’d normally go to sleep.

  If she remembered right, Kranes was eighty kilometers away from Condore. At their current pace, it’d take over a day to walk that far… She wasn’t sure what would happen if Athena and Seraphine woke up while inside those bags, or how long they’d be out for, but there was no chance Lycoris would be able to remain conscious that entire time.

  Is that what they’re waiting for, for me to pass out from exhaustion? …I guess I did present myself as a sheltered princess. Do I risk letting them carry me? We’d move quicker, but there’s a chance I might actually… Oh, wait a second.

  Abruptly, she froze in her tracks. Carefully, she wiped her blood off against the inside of the jacket, not wanting to soil her nice clothes with the blue ichor… though that was probably already a lost cause.

  “Resume walking. We are not there yet.”

  “But I’m tired. Can we not take a break to rest?”

  “No.”

  “Hmph, my legs refuse to carry me on any further. And admittedly, I would rather not sit down on the floor of such a stuffy tunnel. You, the one with good arms. Carry me. And if you even try to sling me over your shoulder like a common sack of grain, I will… I will flail about like a wild beast!”

  I’m almost starting to enjoy acting like this. What a concerning thought…

  The two figures looked at each other and wordlessly nodded in the same rote manner they always did when deciding a course of action, and the one in the guard uniform—with Athena and Seraphine tucked on their belt—scooped Lycoris up by her back and legs, looking down at her dispassionately as she carefully held the knife against her chest.

  With another nod to his companion, they began sprinting. Lycoris nearly let out a gasp of surprise as they took off almost as fast as horses, or myrh perhaps. They had definitely been going at a slower pace for her sake. Even if she hadn’t been shackled, she wasn’t sure she could run this fast.

  At this rate, they’d arrive within a couple of hours.

  Lycoris was torn on if that was a good or bad thing. She had thoroughly broken her promise not to involve herself directly, so it was probably for the best that they’d be there soon… but she needed something to happen before they reached Bartholomew. She needed a chance to strike them both down before they could take advantage of her childish physique.

  She had a knife, but if she stabbed one of them, the other could still easily overpower her. Even if they were normal adults, rather than trained assassins. Honestly, even stabbing one in the heart might not be enough to actually bring them down, given how… strange they were.

  Ensuring that she’d remain focused and alert for a potential opening, Lycoris wrapped her already slightly wounded palm around the knife and offered some of her blood up to it, activating its enchantment to keep herself awake and focused…

  ＊　＊　＊

  Even though she had the enchanted knife to keep herself focused, the lack of stimulus was beginning to make Lycoris drowsy, when accompanied by the rhythmic bobbing from the sprinting assailant.

  After what felt like another hour, the three of them stopped. Ahead of them was a barricade, and several dead Whispers on the ground. Some were shredded apart, while others were riddled with holes. But all of them were dead… or re-dead? Lycoris still wasn’t exactly sure if they were alive or not. Lesath’s words made it sound like they were more similar to her phone than a proper undead abomination.

  “No movement from Whispers.”

  “No sign of soldiers.”

  The two nodded in unison once more, and deftly vaulted over the barricade with Lycoris held firmly.

  Just my luck that there aren’t any guards here either. Did they all go on holiday or something? I know it's late at night, but what if Whispers suddenly… oh, I guess I was the one who said they’d remain mostly centered around Kranes. Damn it, Lycoris.

  They had to be right by the town if there were barricades set up, meaning they’d probably run into live Whispers soon… If Lycoris was ever going to have a chance, it’d be there.

  Of course, she’d then have to figure out how to get away from a pack of Whispers while constrined the physical capabilities of a child up past bedtime instead.

  The two assassins moved with far more caution than before, but the one carrying her continued to keep Lycoris in his arms. Maybe he thought she was asleep, she had been staying rather motionless and silent the entire time. He hung back slightly, letting the other one take point as they advanced through the eerily quiet tunnels.

  Or at least, they had been eerily quiet, until Lycoris’s ears caught the sound of… drumming, in the distance. Or stamping feet?

  She lifted her head to look behind her, and at the same time the pointman raised their wounded arm to signal ahead. Wordlessly, the two of them readied themselves, and the one carrying Lycoris set her down beside the tracks and moved forward, drawing a firearm from one of their many zipper-covered pockets.

  But the sound was coming from behind them. Did they not hear it? Lycoris’s ears shouldn’t have been enhanced by her mana presently, they should have better hearing than her, if anything.

  While the two had their focus elsewhere, she took the dagger and sawed away the cloth wrapping her wrists together. With the Whispers coming from the front, hopefully she could stab one of the assassins, get the bags, and then somehow lure the other Whispers to the pair of them, hoping the noise and aggression from them would let her slip under the radar.

  Just as she thought that, the metallic clank of shuffling steel footsteps echoed from before them, and there was a humming vibration from the tunnel all around them. In that moment, Lycoris realized her mistake.

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  They… set up an ambush!? Are there that many Whispers here? This is bad.

  “Hey, unshackle me and I can help—”

  “Silence.”

  The guard-uniformed one immediately cut her off, but just by speaking out loud, she already sprung the trap.

  The clank of footsteps ahead of them suddenly accelerated, and pieces of stone fell from the ceiling above as strange worms with tapered spinning iron noses burrowed out of the bedrock, each about as thick around as Lycoris’s torso. Meaning, they could probably swallow her whole, if their strange faces opened up into mouths…

  Shit, shit shit shit. This is my chance. Now or never. But how do I get away!? I definitely can’t break a charging line of Whispers with the strength of a nine-year-old girl!

  Or the equivalent, at least.

  She eyed the pair of satchels swinging from the assassin’s belt as he opened fire with his pistol, drawing the attention of the worms as sparks of flame pinged off their faces. They changed trajectory right towards him, though their movements were far too simple to actually strike him directly. But they burrowed right into the ground beneath his feet, avoiding retaliation and tearing up the ground around him.

  Most likely, their objective wasn’t to actually tear them apart, but keep them pinned in place as the main host charged. At least, that’s what Lycoris would expect an intelligent foe to do.

  The sound of charging footsteps ahead and behind impelled Lycoris into acting. She finally had her window, what came next she would simply have to figure out as things happened. Really, it was no different from how her former party operated…

  Throwing off the loose jacket, Lycoris snarled, charged forward, and threw herself at the man in the guard uniform, thrusting the knife into his lower back as he was in the midst of firing his gun.

  Dragging it through him as she put all her energy into the strike, Lycoris gripped the satchels and wrenched them from his waist as she turned around, only to immediately regret her choice, as the two deceptively heavy bags immediately dragged her down to the ground, each as heavy as the person inside of them.

  Before the “guard” could turn around and strike back at her, the Whispers arrived en masse. Or at least, it was a large enough group that both of the assassins had to divert their entire energy to shooting at them to thin their ranks. To their credit, every pull of the trigger brought down a single Whisper, striking them in the eyes or exposed chest or joints. They fired quicker than Lycoris realized a firearm could shoot, too; it put the Kingdom’s crossbows to shame.

  The shambling, charging abominations of shiny metal with dangling viscera—or, wires, as Lycoris now could recognize—looked like wild animals recklessly running into a cannonade.

  Lycoris almost couldn’t even believe her eyes. The undying terrors, that even divine magic couldn’t bring down easily, were falling like flies. It was no wonder Vampires were capable of controlling their numbers and weaponizing them against Human settlements.

  And, at the same time, they seemed… less terrifying than the ones from her memories. They were clearly just cobbled together creatures made out of rusting machinery, pipes, and wires. Sure, they were still unsettling, but… she understood them now.

  Of course, that didn’t stop her from gasping in shock as she scrambled backwards, still on her butt and cumbersomely dragging the small satchels with her, when the ground beneath her feet began to bubble upward.

  Right in front of her, one of the worm-type Whispers burst forth and wasted no time in attempting to gouge her with its huge spear-like face.

  Lycoris let go of the bags and ducked around to the side, holding the dagger with both hands as she slammed it into the worm’s “neck” just behind the spinning drill nose. It writhed as her small blade found purchase, and her muscles ached as she forced herself to drag the blade down and around the contour of the beast’s neck, pulling it out with a sick wet pop as murky black liquid oozed out of the gash.

  It wasn’t dead, however; as it thrashed and swung its head about wildly, it slammed its featureless face into the floor and against the walls. As though to put it out of its misery, another worm burst from the ground and ripped right through it, charging at Lycoris while she was still recovering.

  Her hands and legs were trembling, she doubted she’d be able to repeat the previous success, but just as she readying herself to dive forward under it, a gunshot rang out and struck the creature in the side, knocking it off course and forcing its attention away from Lycoris.

  The assassin that she’d torn a chunk of arm and leg off earlier that evening rushed towards her while the other one covered for them, and before she could react, the hooded figure wrenched the knife out of her hands and threw it full-forced at the worm. The blade tore straight through it and embedded itself into the concrete wall, glowing dimly as its enchantment continued to radiate energy even after being separated from the ritual activator.

  “Hey! That thing is expensive, you know!”

  Technically, it was priceless. And apparently far, far sharper than Lycoris had realized.

  And, also, it was currently a source of extremely potent and thick mana, having been charged by Aphtangloa blood.

  The entire tunnel began to shake, dust and loosened stone fell from the ceiling, and a frenzied guttural cry reverberated through the very stone as even more worms burst through the floor, walls, and ceiling. A buzzing noise came from the direction they had been heading, and Lycoris had a firearm pointed straight at her face.

  Whether the assassin intended to pull the trigger or not, Lycoris would never know, as a piece of rubble fell and knocked them to the ground, the swarm of frenzied Whispers causing the tunnel to begin caving in.

  With the situation becoming even more chaotic, Lycoris snatched the firearm off of the ground and dove for the satchels, opting to shield them with her back and covering her head with the tiny metal weapon, instead of going for the dagger embedded in the crumbling wall.

  Pieces of concrete rained down around her. She wondered if this would be how she finally perished. She wished her mom was here.

  The moment she felt tears begin to blur her vision, a loud animal cry pierced the cacophonous rain of stone. Raising her head without thinking, she saw a pair of birds rushing toward her.

  No, not birds, but…

  “Horsey!?”

  A lavender-feathered myrh, accompanied by a chocolate-brown companion, dashed straight at her. The two of them expertly ducked and wove around falling debris and bodies, and the normal-hued companion pounced and swiped its paws at a worm Whisper trying to get in their way.

  Meanwhile “Horsey” closed the distance and nipped Lycoris by the fabric of her blouse and swung her around, flinging her onto its back as it continued charging forward.

  “Wait! Those bags are important! We can’t just leave them!”

  “…Caw.”

  With what sounded like a rather put-upon cry, the myrh doubled back around and ducked behind a large fallen boulder to avoid a gunshot from the still-standing assassin, while the two of them raced toward the same pair of bags. Of course, even though he was an assassin, the man in the guard uniform was no match for a creature born and bred for agility and racing. And most likely his injury was slowing him down, or it was the Whisper right at his back trying to shove its hands into his open wound, or the piece of ceiling he had to dive away from.

  Whatever the case, the lavender-feathered bird snapped up both bags in its beak, breaking hard to the left and running along the wall for a moment, briefly leaving Lycoris feeling like she was about to fall off, before racing back toward the oncoming horde of Whispers.

  “O-Other way! Other way!”

  “Bwwk!”

  “I don't speak bird, I’m sorry!”

  Exhilaration coursed through Lycoris as she shouted, righting herself as though riding a horse without a saddle. Glancing over her shoulder toward the tunnel behind them, she saw that the path back had been nearly entirely caved in, worms and multi-limbed crawlers buried in the rubble as their mindless hunger for mana wrought their own doom.

  There was something poetic about that, like a parable on greed that one of the pastors back in the Kingdom might have told. More importantly, it meant Lycoris and her new friend would have to find a different way home.

  “I hope your friend is okay…”

  “…”

  “Do you know where we’re going? …Why am I asking questions, it’s not like you can answer. Just, get us to the surface as quick as you can, okay? We need to get away from these Whispers and find some other people as soon as possible.”

  “Wwwrrrr!”

  With a muffled cry due to the bags swinging from its mouth, the myrh chirped at her in response. Hoping that it could somehow understand her, or that it at least had the same survival instinct she did, Lycoris leaned forward and gave the myrh’s neck an encouraging rub.

  The enchantment upon her gradually began to fade with her separation from the knife, but the tension, anxiety, panic and adrenaline fused and kept her feeling some measure of focused. Not to mention the cold steel of the firearm, heavy in her hand.

  The myrh dashed down the tunnel as Lycoris took aim. She’d seen it used enough times that she knew how to operate it, even if she’d never used one before, but she wasn’t prepared for the feeling when she pulled the trigger.

  There was no recoil or anything like what she might have expected from a crossbow or cannon, but there was a tug on her arms, and she felt the blood vessels throb in her hands and wrists. It felt like a knot of hair being passed through the teeth of a many-pronged comb, a sensation like something getting stuck and the associated twinge of agony that accompanied it.

  Despite the discomfort, the bolt of flame still struck a Whisper in the head, staggering it but not dropping it like the assassins’ precision shooting. A second pull caused the same tug, but this time she aimed for its legs, staggering one of the many. A third downed another, as she used the pain to help her focus.

  The myrh seemed to take that as a signal, and broke through the opening Lycoris created. It was astounding just how agile and nimble the beast was, far more graceful and adroit than a horse could ever be.

  The two—four?—of them charged past, with Lycoris taking the brief lull in action to look down at the firearm. Nobody else she’d seen pull the trigger showed any discomfort. Were they just used to it? Considering how it felt the worst right around her wrists, she hazarded that it was the nullification cuffs, and the weapon somehow drew upon her mana.

  She wondered if Humanity couldn’t use them because it was only worked with vampiric mana, if there even was a difference, or if there was some other reason they never tried. Presumably the Church confiscated and destroyed every single one they acquired without question, but there’d be no doubt that it’d absolutely level the playing field if humans could use the same weapons the vampires did…

  Lycoris had no time to ponder the matter however, as she and her ride quickly reached a platform covered in Whispers that were either wandering aimlessly, laying around, or idly staring at the tiled walls or floors. The myrh jumped up onto the platform and sprinted toward the stairs, moving past some half-eaten turnstiles and headbutting a weird six-legged crab-like Whisper aside after Lycoris put another firebolt into its center of mass.

  Fortunately the stairs were still navigable, and the myrh had no trouble making its way up to the surface… into Kranes.

  Lycoris couldn’t hold back her gasp as she took in her surroundings.

  Buildings around them had collapsed in on themselves, some with bodies partially exposed in the rubble. The streets were torn up, traffic lamps were bent and partially chewed up, cars were crunched down, smashed into each other, torn apart, and partially devoured. Fangchaser bodies were left where they were struck down, while only ash-covered clothes remained of any vampires that had faced the sun.

  Rather than roam the streets, the Whispers seemed to have burrowed into the ground or taken shelter in whatever buildings they snuck into. Lycoris recalled from her time in the knightly order that Whispers tended to mimic their vampiric masters, and avoided open air as much as possible. Though they had nothing to fear from sunlight, it must have been preprogrammed behavior, like what Lucretia had implied.

  Though there were still some out and about, but those appeared to be roaming around in packs either looking for, or actively taking apart, sources of mana. There were a few in particular that seemed to be gathered around building entrances, either waiting or fruitlessly bonking against the doors and barricaded windows.

  “Maybe I should be glad… I have these bracelets on.”

  “Bwok.”

  “Can you find us a shelter, Horsey? I don’t really want to test if I can bask in sunlight or not…”

  “Gwark.”

  “You know, I should probably think up an actual name for you… Unless you already have one. You’d tell me if you did, right? Not like you belong to me, though… Haha, I’m so tired, I’ve started rambling to myself.”

  “Caw.” It stuck its head up proudly, sniffing at the air.

  “That’s… about what I figured…”

  The myrh began wandering the streets, dodging around torn up holes in the road and collapsed debris, avoiding the packs of Whispers and running away from any that began to take interest in it.

  Lycoris laid herself down against the myrh, resting her head on its downy neck feathers, looking up at the stars in the sky far away. The soreness in her arms and legs had reached her threshold of tolerance—surpassed it, probably. The adrenaline had all left, and without any immediate sources of danger, she found her consciousness beginning to wane. To stay awake, she thought of her mother, idly wondering how angry Lilianna was likely to be with her.

  Perhaps she could have done better, but the situation was out of her control. Perhaps the Exaltare would tell her to sacrifice the hostages, that she was more important and should have prioritized her own life instead.

  Hopefully Lycoris would last long enough to be chewed out by her. Hopefully she’d get hugged again after, and maybe get to sleep in the same big bed, too.

  She was too worn down to consider how shamefully childish it was to even entertain such thoughts.

  Struggling to stay awake as she failed to keep her thoughts from aimlessly wandering, Lycoris didn’t know how long they prowled the streets of Kranes for, or where the myrh had taken her, but eventually she raised her head when they came to a stop. Gently sloping down before them was a small ramp leading to a set of sealed iron doors.

  At her mount’s urging, she clambered off its back and staggered down the ramp, nearly stumbling into the door while weakly banging her weapon against it.

  “Hello? Is anyone in there? We… I have some unconscious friends, I’m not sure if they need medical attention, and I’m very tired. There don’t seem to be any Whispers around, but I’m not sure when they’ll be back, or when the sun will be up, so—”

  “Shhhhh!”

  A small panel slid open on the door, revealing a sheet of glass that someone peered through down at her.

  Too tired and not particularly inclined to call them out on shushing the Crown Princess regardless, Lycoris complied and tiredly looked up at the small panel. She was obviously not a Whisper, and the only things around were her and the myrh.

  After a pause, the one peeking through the glass whispered, “…Where are your friends?”

  “Oh, they’re inside the bags. Mira’s carrying them because they’re a little heavy for me.”

  Lycoris raised her empty hand to gesture at the myrh’s mouth, revealing the ominous black bangle wrapped around her wrist.

  After another moment, the hatch slammed shut. When there was no response for what felt like several minutes, Lycoris felt her heart begin to sink.

  But just as she was about to turn around, there was a loud clank, and the door slowly creaked open, revealing a hairy-armed Fangchaser holding a long-type firearm, and a Vampire with a bandage around what must have been a serious headwound, and his arm in a sling.

  “Hurry up and come in,” he beckoned.

  Lycoris offered a small curtsey, raising her hand to beckon Mira in alongside her, who had to squeeze a little to fit through the door as they didn’t want to open it any further than the absolute minimum.

  She took a look around at the interior, seeing dozens of people huddled in groups scattered about the rather spacious but gloomy underground shelter, some still awake, others seemingly woken up by her arrival, and still some few sleeping beneath blankets. The sight of relative safety drained the last few vestiges of her strength, her eyelids heavy.

  “You look like a mess, are you alright?” The Fangchaser asked.

  “I’m fine… just… please. My friends are in those bags, I think they were drugged. They’ll… need your help more. I just… need a moment. To catch my breath.”

  The man’s reply sounded muffled, like her ears were suddenly full of cotton. No longer able to resist the temptation, Lycoris closed her eyes and let herself fall forward.

  The last thing she remembered was landing against soft purple feathers.