The moon rose between clouds, swept along by the wind, bathing the mansion in a pale, silent light... until the silence was suddenly shattered.
BOOM!!!
The entrance exploded in a storm of splinters, twisted metal, and dust that rose like a living cloud.
Amidst the smoke, Mayla shot out into the vast garden. She landed with almost supernatural elegance, barely bending her knees.
Her eyes glowed bright red as she tore off a piece of her torn skirt that was hindering her movement. In her hand, as if summoned by her will, appeared a pair of dark daggers.
"To think that a rat would be arrogant enough to spy on us."
The voice came from above. Mayla looked up: two vampires were floating above the destroyed entrance, their eyes shining like freshly stoked embers.
'This is getting complicated. I need an escape route,' she thought as she scanned every corner of the garden with calculated speed.
One of the vampires, the one who seemed to be the leader, waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.
"You guys take care of it. We have to go."
Mayla watched as the air vampires sped away, leaving the others behind like hunters slowly closing in.
"I didn't expect the whole room to explode out of nowhere."
A woman dressed in a nun's habit appears; her attire seems made for combat, and in her hands she holds iron gloves and a large silver cross.
"I agree with you, Effie," says a blond-haired man who appears beside her, dressed in a white priest's robe and carrying a spiked mace.
"But she's a vampire, so we can't let our guard down. We're not dealing with cultists."
"It'll be difficult to kill her, but you've got me, so we have a chance," Effie said.
They both look at the vampire, who is ready to fight them.
"Sigh, Effie, start." The human hunter, Lucas, took up a fighting stance.
"I understand, but be careful; it will be problematic." Effie sticks the cross into the ground, then folds her hands in prayer and says, "Lord God, Holy Trinity, together with Mary, reign over me and mine, and let nothing and no one harm me." The silver cross gave off a golden glow that covered Effie and Lucas' bodies.
"Perfect as always, Effie," said Lucas, flexing his joints, gathering strength in his feet, and jumping. The ground collapsed and sank.
Mayla sees the hunter approaching at high speed; his body is covered in blood-red energy as the first exchange begins.
Clang, clang!
The sound of metal echoed across the enormous garden as the spiked mallet struck the daggers.
Mayla moved elegantly, dodging Lucas's furious attacks; she increased her striking speed and managed to land a kick to his stomach.
"Kakakaa! Do you think that's going to stop me?" Lucas covers the mace with golden energy and swings it hard.
Boom!
The impact knocks both of them back, but Mayla can feel the hunter's strength increasing with every passing second.
'It must be because of that woman.' She watches the hunter, who is still praying: "If there were any cultists, I could use them as shields to escape."
"Kakaka, what are you thinking about, vampire?" Lucas suddenly increases his speed.
Mayla sees how, in the blink of an eye, the hunter appears in front of her and connects a powerful punch.
She flies through the air, spins several times on the grass, and lands with an acrobatic move, but Lucas is already in front of her.
She moves, doing somersaults, dodging Lucas's heavy kicks, each of which sinks into the ground, and then connects a series of kicks to his chin, throwing him off balance.
Lucas, who loses control of his body for a brief moment, falls heavily onto the grass.
This gave Mayla a chance to get some distance: "I can't go on like this; I have to kill one of them," she murmurs, looking at the woman who is still praying; she was the most troublesome.
...
Perched on a tree branch, a vampire with black hair and red eyes watches the palm unfold.
"What is Arlene's servant doing, fighting the hunters?" murmurs the vampire. She puts her hand on her chin: "Maybe I'll send her to investigate something... well, I'll give her a hand."
She climbs down from the tree as a blood-red energy covers her, and as soon as her feet touch the grass, she runs at full speed.
Effie, in a praying pose, constantly supporting Lucas... "Huh?" She feels something approaching at full speed, turns her face, and suddenly sees another vampire and creates a barrier in front of her.
The black-haired vampire disappears in a red flash and reappears behind Effie. Her nails grow rapidly and dig into Effie's shoulder.
"AHHHH!!" Effie screamed in pain, and the vampire bit her neck, making her scream even louder.
"EFFIE!?" Lucas tried to run towards Effie, but just as he was about to help, he was intercepted by a dagger.
Boom!
A cloud of dust rises. A few seconds later, it dissipates, revealing the bald Inquisition hunter in a small crater, with multiple cuts all over his body and bleeding profusely.
The vampire, enjoying the Inquisition hunter's scream, sinks her fangs deeper and pulls away from her, smiling sadistically at what she has just done.
"No! No! No!... No! NO! NOOOOOOO!" Effie desperately grabs her neck, feeling her body heat up and the desire for blood invade her senses, but her skin corrodes, sticking to the bone; her eyes empty, emitting an unhealthy glow.
"NOOO! This... Grrr! I am a follower... Grrr!" She is losing control of her body, and her consciousness fades, replaced by an insatiable hunger. "God... Grrr! Where are you now? GRRRR!" She couldn't finish the sentence, and only a guttural growl remained.
She had turned into a ghoul!
"Damn you, vampires!" shouted Lucas, the Inquisition hunter. It was like the cry of a demon, with tears streaming down his cheeks.
Obviously, Mayla wasted no time and quickly escaped with the black-haired, red-eyed vampire.
Both vampires disappeared from the scene.
...
The garden of the empty mansion.
Lucas tries to resist the attacks of the ghoul Effie. He does not attack her because, even though she has become what he hates most, she is still his lover.
Suddenly, more Inquisition hunters arrive in their priestly robes and crucifixes around their necks, observing the complex situation.
"Lucas, you have to finish her off so she can go to heaven," said a man with long black hair sadly. Seeing a comrade turned into a ghoul is heartbreaking.
"..." He finds himself hesitating, unwilling to kill his lover... "Damn vampires..." he muttered in a tone laden with hatred, remembering how that vampire had sunk his filthy fangs into Effie, filling him with rage and hatred.
He dodges one of the claws and, seeing her lover salivating and growling like a hungry animal, closes his eyes for a moment and opens them again. "Let's begin with the purification," he said after standing next to the other hunters.
They waste no time.
The hunters rip the crucifixes from their necks and throw them in four directions. The chains clink with a metallic jingle that cuts through the air. The crucifixes fall, sticking into the ground and forming a perfect cross.
Another hunter opens the Bible. The pages tremble... they quiver... and suddenly they begin to fly on their own like a white swarm.
"GRRRR!" The ghoul Effie writhes, her muscles tense under the golden light. The sacred leaves stick to her skin, burning her and sealing every attempt at movement.
"Start now! I can only hold out for five minutes!" shouted the Bible hunter, his face covered in sweat and his eyes shining with a golden hue.
The remaining inquisitors, including Lucas, joined their hands as if to pray.
And all, in unison, began to pray.
"Beloved Lord Jesus Christ, cover us with your Holy Blood and purify our impure souls.
Free their minds, bodies, and spirits from all corruption and sin.
May your blood wash every corner of their being...
And return this aberration to the dust from which it should never have risen.
Amen."
The crucifixes burst into a golden glow that rises upward. From the sky descends a column of golden energy, a torrent of light so pure that it burns even the air it touches.
Effie's scream turns into an inhuman roar, a sound so guttural that it shakes the ground. Her body slowly disintegrates into light, flesh, and bone, reduced to dust under the weight of divine "mercy."
Silence.
Only a handful of gray ashes remain floating in the air.
Lucas lowers his head. His voice, firm and solemn, breaks the silence.
"May her soul find eternal rest..."
Everyone responds in unison:
"Amen."