The storm ravaging Transylvania that night was anything but natural. Thunder roared without pause, and rain fell like molten lead, turning the forest roads into rivers of mud and darkness.
In the western wing of the Brașov fortress, far from the halls where Vlad waited, Baroness Crowell stood before a tall window, watching the lightning tear across the sky. Behind her, three shadows materialized.
They were Margot, Linda, and Alba — the Enforcers. Ancient vampires whose loyalty belonged only to the Baroness's gold and blood.
Crowell didn't turn as she spoke.
"The clock is ticking. Two hours until midnight."
"Are they on their way?" Margot asked, her voice rough as sanded stone.
"They are." Crowell smiled at her reflection in the dark glass. "Alice is predictable. She will bring the human to be turned."
"But we cannot allow them to arrive."
She turned, golden eyes gleaming with malice.
"Intercept the car on Bone Road. Do not kill them immediately. I want them delayed. I want Alice to spend every drop of her strength trying to protect the girl. Destroy the vehicle. Break the vampire's legs. And if the human dies in the process…" Crowell shrugged as she adjusted her leather gloves. "An unfortunate accident along the way."
"And if Alice fights? She's of the Richter bloodline. She's strong."
"She's in love," Crowell replied coldly. "Love makes her slow. Do what you were paid to do."
The three nodded and vanished into the shadows, leaving the Baroness alone with her anticipated victory.
On the winding road, the rented car battled the storm. Alice drove with rigid focus, her eyes cutting through the darkness beyond the headlights. Kara sat in the passenger seat, gripping Alice's hand tightly.
"We're close," Alice said, trying to calm both Kara and herself. "Twenty more minutes and we'll reach the gates."
"And then… everything changes," Kara whispered.
Alice glanced at her with a soft smile.
"For the better. We'll—"
The world flipped upside down.
A massive tree trunk, hurled with supernatural force, slammed into the side of the car. The vehicle rolled violently across the wet asphalt, metal screaming against stone, glass exploding into a deadly storm of shards. The car skidded upside down before crashing into a tree at the forest's edge.
Silence followed, broken only by the rain.
"Kara!" Alice shouted, ripping off her seatbelt. "Kara, are you okay?"
Kara groaned, hanging from her belt. Blood ran from a cut on her forehead into her eyes.
"I'm… I think I am…"
Alice kicked the door open, tearing it from its hinges. She freed Kara and pulled her into the freezing mud.
There was no time to check their injuries.
Three figures landed around them, forming a circle.
Margot. Linda. Alba.
"You're not going anywhere, traitor," Margot hissed, spinning a black oak spear in her hands.
Alice placed Kara behind her, her eyes turning red instantly.
"Touch her and I'll rip out your hearts."
"Try," Linda challenged.
The attack was brutal and coordinated.
Alba and Linda rushed Alice, while Margot flanked toward Kara.
Alice fought with desperate ferocity. She blocked Linda's sword with her forearm, ignoring the pain, and shattered the vampire's knee with a kick. But Alba was faster, slashing Alice's back with silver daggers.
Nearby, Kara lay in the mud as Margot approached with a sadistic grin.
"The fragile little human…"
Kara felt around the ground. Her hand found a sharpened wooden fragment from a broken fence. Fear was there — but rage was stronger.
When Margot leapt, expecting a helpless victim, Kara rolled aside and drove the stake into the vampire's thigh with a scream of effort.
Margot howled in pain and fell.
"You bitch!"
Alice heard the scream.
Seeing Kara in danger, she exploded into motion. She grabbed Linda by the throat and hurled her into a rock. The sound of a skull cracking echoed through the storm.
Then she turned and, in a single savage motion, decapitated Alba with her claws.
But Margot, wounded by Kara, seized the distraction.
The Enforcer rose and hurled her black oak spear with deadly precision.
Alice spun to shield Kara.
The spear pierced Alice's abdomen, pinning her to the tree behind her.
Alice screamed. The wood was no ordinary oak — it was soaked in aconite and vervain. The pain was paralyzing, burning through her veins like acid, draining her strength instantly.
"Alice!" Kara ran to her, trying to pull the spear free, but it was buried deep into the trunk.
Margot limped closer, laughing, ready for the killing blow.
But Alice, still pinned to the tree, stared at her enemy. With a final surge of desperate telekinesis, she ripped loose a piece of the wrecked car.
A metal plate flew through the air and cleanly decapitated Margot.
All three Enforcers were dead.
But the damage was done.
Alice collapsed to her knees as the tree gave way, the spear still lodged in her body. Dark blood spilled from her mouth.
"Kara… the phone…" Alice gasped.
Crying, Kara found the phone in Alice's torn jacket.
"Who do I call?"
"Rose… Call Rose."
The clock tower of Brașov struck midnight. The sound echoed through the valley and into the Council Hall.
Vlad IV sat on his throne, his expression unreadable, his aura stormy.
"The deadline has passed," Vlad declared.
Albert, standing in the shadows, closed his eyes briefly. He had hoped for them.
"Perhaps the storm… the delay—" Albert began.
"The storm is no excuse for immortality," Baroness Crowell cut in, stepping forward. She looked radiant. "They did not come, Vlad. It was a choice. They mocked your mercy."
Vlad rose in fury.
"Then the sentence is death."
"Allow me, my lord," Crowell said, bowing. "Let me go. I know their scent. I will be swift. And I will bring the traitor's head to your feet."
Vlad studied her. He sensed the personal hunger beneath her words, but the law was the law.
"Go. But bring Alice back alive for public execution. The human… do as you wish."
Crowell smiled — a smile that promised hell.
"With pleasure."
Albert watched her leave, bitterness on his tongue. He knew there would be no justice that night.
On the road, the rain washed away blood — but not pain.
Alice lay in Kara's lap, her breathing shallow. The poison prevented her regeneration.
"Rose is coming," Kara whispered, stroking Alice's face as her tears mixed with the rain. "She said she's bringing Ruby. Hold on, my love. Please."
"I feel…" Alice murmured, her eyes unfocused. "Something cold."
The temperature dropped sharply. The rain seemed to freeze midair.
Footsteps echoed on the asphalt. Slow. Rhythmic. Elegant.
Kara looked up.
From the mist emerged Baroness Crowell, her red cloak immaculate and dry, as if the storm dared not touch her.
"What a pathetic scene," Crowell said, her voice slicing through the wind.
Alice tried to move. Her body wouldn't respond.
"Elise…" Alice growled.
"Shhh. Save your strength for screaming later." Crowell glanced at the dead Enforcers. "It seems my girls failed. Hard to find good help these days. I'll have to dirty my own hands."
"Stay away from her!" Kara stood, gripping the bloodstained stake. She placed herself between Alice and the Elder.
Crowell laughed — a genuine, amused sound.
"Look at you. A mouse holding a toothpick against a god."
"I'm not afraid of you," Kara said, though she trembled violently.
"You should be."
Crowell moved — not with speed, but with teleportation.
One moment she was distant. The next, she stood before Kara.
With a backhanded strike, she sent Kara flying across the road. Kara hit the asphalt hard, the air ripping from her lungs in a scream.
"NO!" Alice cried, trying to crawl.
Crowell approached Alice and flicked her hand.
Wooden stakes erupted from the ground —blood magic — pinning Alice's wrists and ankles into the mud.
"Stay there and watch, child."
Crowell turned back to Kara, who was struggling to rise, blood on her lips. The Baroness kicked Kara's ribs. A sickening crack echoed. Kara screamed.
"You thought you could enter our world?" Crowell grabbed Kara by the hair, forcing her to look at Alice, helplessly restrained. "That you could change the rules with 'love'? This isn't a fairy tale, stupid girl. This is the food chain."
"Let her go!" Alice begged, tearing her own flesh against the stakes. "Kill me! Kill me, just let her go!"
"Kill you?" Crowell glanced at her. "No, Alice. Death is easy. Grief is eternal."
Kara, her face swollen and bleeding, looked at Crowell with defiance.
"You're pathetic," she spat, blood staining the Baroness's perfect face. "We were going to accept it. I was going to turn. I chose to be like her. What you're doing isn't justice — it's just cruelty. You're empty."
Crowell's smile vanished, replaced by icy fury.
"You were going to turn?" she whispered. "Then I'm doing the world a favor."
She lifted Kara by the throat with one hand, raising her off the ground. Kara clawed at her arm, legs kicking uselessly.
"Alice!" Kara choked.
"Let her go!" Alice screamed, her voice breaking. "Please! I'll do anything! I surrender!"
Crowell met Alice's eyes.
"Watch what happens to what you love."
Her grip tightened.
Kara stopped struggling. Her eyes met Alice's one final time. Fear vanished from her face —replaced by infinite, aching love.
"I… love… you," Kara whispered.
CRACK.
The sound of Kara's neck breaking was sharp, final — louder than the thunder.
The light in her eyes vanished instantly. Her head fell lifelessly to the side.
Alice froze.
The scream died in her throat. The world stopped. The rain stopped.
All that existed was Kara's limp body in Crowell's hand.
"Oops," Crowell said flatly.
She dropped the corpse at Alice's feet like a broken doll.
"Now suffer. And know it was your fault."
Crowell turned and vanished into the darkness, leaving only death behind.
The stakes restraining Alice crumbled to dust.
Alice crawled to Kara's body, her hands shaking too badly to touch her at first.
She pulled Kara into her arms. The body was still warm. But the heart… the heart was silent.
"Kara…" Alice whispered. "Kara, wake up. Please."
She bit her own wrist and pressed it to Kara's lips, smearing her blood across her mouth.
"Drink. Please. It works. It has to work."
The blood spilled uselessly from Kara's lips.
There was no life to receive it.
No pulse to carry it.
She was dead.
Irreversibly dead.
Alice clutched Kara to her chest, rocking in the mud, blood and rain soaking them both.
The pain rose from her stomach and tore upward, shredding everything inside her.
Then Alice screamed.
Not a human scream — something primal, monstrous, the sound of a soul being ripped apart. The cry echoed through the mountains, sending night birds fleeing in terror.
She screamed until her voice broke. Until only violent, empty sobs remained.
Hours passed. The rain never stopped.
Near dawn, tires screeched on the road and a car slammed to a halt.
Rose jumped out, Ruby right behind her.
"Alice!" Rose ran, slipping in the mud.
She froze a few meters away.
The wrecked car.
The dead Enforcers.
And in the center of it all — Alice.
Kneeling in the mud, soaked, hair plastered to her face. Kara's pale, lifeless body in her arms. Alice didn't move. She only stared at Kara's face with hollow, shattered eyes.
Rose covered her mouth, tears instantly filling her eyes.
"Oh my God…" she whispered. "We're too late."
Ruby looked away, unable to witness such pain.
Rose slowly approached her sister and knelt beside her, placing a hand on Alice's shoulder.
Alice didn't react.
"Alice…" Rose whispered, trembling.
Very slowly, Alice lifted her head.
When her eyes met Rose's, her sister recoiled in fear.
There was no sadness left in Alice's gaze.
Only a crimson abyss of blood-tears.
A bottomless well of hatred and madness.
Alice opened her mouth and whispered, in a voice that sounded like it came from hell:
"They… will… burn."
Then she screamed again — a howl of grief that promised the end of the world.