Chapter 4 - Redsnow

 It was around midday. The dwarves in the city were hard at work. Many worked at one of many shopping districts, others had their jobs, growing food underground. Most of the dwarves though, went to work, digging in the mines. Beneath Brozegrad, was a large network of caves, and tunnels. For centuries, dwarves had been digging them out, and they were now at the point where the entire cave beneath the city would be considered a maze. Every path had a set of tracks constructed in it, allowing the dwarves to transport gems, and jewels, or other valuable resources they find, back up to the surface. Many parts of their network, connected to one massive cavern that, for as far as they knew, stretched down forever. Cylinder-shaped caves, with several holes, leading to new paths, and ways deep beneath the earth and the mountains around them. The furthest recorded cave beneath the mountain led almost seventeen miles out from where the second-longest cave tunnel, which was only four miles out from the city's mine entrance.

The tracks led out of the mines and around the city. A series of tracks were built around the city and were all controlled with switches and gears. The cart's made their way around the city and could be seen moving from the ground floor. It was where most of the noise in the underground city came from. One rushed passed the open window to the fellowship's rooms. They had all gathered in Sargon's room and waited for Emily to return from the bathhouse. Violet suggested to her that warm water usually helped with hangovers, so the young vampire had spent most of her day, in the bathhouse, naked, drenching herself in hot water ranging from average, to boiling. There was soon a knock at the door, and Emily walked in. Her hair was still damp, and her wing's where more or less the same. She wore a towel around her neck, and over her shoulders, and only had on her top, and a short skirt, as it was the only clean clothes she had at the moment. That and the white dress, but she didn't think it would be a good idea to wear it when wet. She was feeling much better from when she first woke up, but there was still the faint pain of a headache lingering.

Dalton was now wearing her new armor. She spent her time today, admiring the craftsmanship of it. She felt that she was slowly learning more about herself, and was close to the full picture. But right now, she felt at home, with her allies, gearing up to go to another ancient temple to find a legendary artifact. She seemed excited to go. Karaline leaned against the wall closest to the door, with Violet sitting beside, her reading, and the naive fairy sitting on her head. Alina sat on a stool, elbows resting on her knees, and fingers in the corners of her eyes. When Emily walked in, everyone looked over at her, and she looked at everyone else. She frowned and blushed slightly as she walked over to Alina and sat down. All of them, including Dalton, was disappointed with her, and her most recent actions. Their patience with her was growing thin. There was a long silence between the seven of them, and Emily was the first to speak up.

"What are we talking about?"

"I think what we do next," Alina said, looking down at her. Karaline stood up and looked out at everyone.

"Alina, Sargon, and I already decided that we should go to the temple... or, vault. We know where it is, because of that big- ass book Alina is hauling around."

"Why do we have to go?" Emily whined quietly.

"To try and beat the scary undead guy, who stabbed you and cut your fingers off, remember." Alina frowned a bit.

"And why is that our problem? Why not let more qualified people go stop him?"

"What 'more qualified people' did you have in mind?" Karaline asked.

"Not us," Emily said sarcastically and flinched slightly as the pain in her head returned for a brief moment.

"At the moment we seem to be all there is," Alina mumbled.

"Okay, fine," Emily said. "We just go through another maze or something?"

Violet looked up and shrugged.

"I don't know." Alina said, "The book had a layout of the vault, but it's hard to make out, but I don't expect another maze."

"Are we getting some kind of reward?"

"You get the reward of valor, and being a hero, which comes with its own perks," Dalton spoke up, looking up from her armor. "Is not the wish of everyone to become a hero in some regard?" Dalton said, with an excited grin on her face.

"Wouldn't say it's necessarily one of mine. But I don't want any of you dead, so we kinda have to stop him so that doesn't happen." Alina shrugged.

"You want to keep people safe? Would you not consider that an act of heroism?" Dalton asked intrigued. She now had the holy steel dagger out and was inspecting it. Both Alina, and Emily looked away from her. The armor she wore could technically hurt them if she were to touch them.

"I'm not really interested in being a hero... but what would some of the perks be?" Emily asked, looking over towards Dalton.

"You'd probably get rewards from people who are grateful you saved their lives," Alina said.

"If not that, then what is your desire, Emily? What drives you?" Dalton asked.

"Um... staying alive?" The young vampire tilted her head.

"Aside from that. What gives you the motivation to keep going?"

"I... I don't know. I don't really think I actually have motivation."

"That's your issue then. You have nothing to give you direction, so you just wander through life. You need to find something to give you that sense of direction." Dalton smiled at her.

"Like what?" Emily asked.

"I don't know. I'm not you, Emily. I'm me. I cannot tell you what to aspire to be. No one but yourself can do that. What I can say is that a life without direction is a life wasted. Meaningless."

Emily stared at Dalton in silence, before simply sighing.

"Okay, fine... when are we leaving?" She tried changing the subject.

"When everyone is prepared," Sargon spoke up.

"Alright." Emily groaned, "I'll go get ready then." She stood up and started walking back to her room to change into clothes that covered her more.

"Then we'll leave in an hour," Karaline suggested.

***

The sun shines above, blocked out by grey clouds. The group trudged along in the snow, leaving behind them a trail of footprints of different sizes. The wind blew a cold breeze from the mountain slopes above, and the clouds above only seemed to make the world around them feel colder. A set of frost covered pine trees ran across the bottom of the mountain, creating a small stretch of forest. Emily had put on something warmer, her black dress with a vampiric jacket. The dress went down to her ankles, but she had them folded up a little higher, to avoid dragging it in the snow. Her boots went up to her knees, and she wore the vampiric gloved she got back on Alnwick. She had the most layers on, with a cloak around her, and a hood over her head. Ehu, her wisp, was cupped in Emily's hands, providing her with warmth. Dalton, Sargon, and Karaline all wore their armor, although they were still cold. Alina wore what she usually would, leaving some of her skin bare, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Lunette was in the same boat, where she only wore the cloth wrapped around her breast, and something to cover her bottom, but the cold weather did nothing to affect her skin. Violet, beneath Lunette, wore another cloak over the one she had to help her with the cold. Shen the snow would get to high, Lunette would lift Violet, and float her over it, giggling as she did so.

"How much further?" Emily asked.

"A while," Sargon said, looking back at her and frowning.

"How long is a while?" Emily asked.

"An hour?"

"Two?"

"Three?"

"Four?"

"Probably longer," Alina added.

"Five?"

"Six?"

"Seven?"

"Eight?"

"Please stop listing numbers." Alina sighed, looking down. Emily giggled and leaned against Alina as they walked.

"But really though, how long do you think it's going to be?"

"A day... at most."

Dalton soon reached up and taped Karaline's shoulder, trying to get her attention.

"Yes?" She asked, looking down.

"How are you doing Karaline?"

"Fine, why?"

"You just seemed quiet in Brozegrad is all."

"Yes, I'm fine." She said, looking forward again. Violet walked behind Karaline. She mindlessly walked behind her, feeling okay with Lunette sitting on her and using her as a horse most of the time. She soon jumped as a bolt of lightning flew past her face, and hit a nearby rock, causing sparks to fly. She looked in the direction it came from and Emily was chuckling.

"S- Sorry, I didn't actually mean to aim it at you that time." She laughed a bit and looked back at her wand. Emily was taking this time to practice some magic. She practiced aiming with her wand, and her hand, aiming for various things around them as they walked, and would try striking them with lighting. She practiced fire magic, which provided a temporary warmth for anyone nearby her. Some of the fire she shot out of her fingers went near Violet as well, causing her to speed up a bit to void getting burned. Then Violet tripped on something. She looked down and saw roots growing out of the ground, and over the snow. She continued tripping on them, as they grew around the young witch. Whether she unintentionally or intentionally bothering Violet was unclear, but most of the group believed it to be the ladder.

Emily kept practicing. The cost of it is that some spells she wasn't completely familiar with would arch and either hit a group member or strike something near them. Karaline attempted to ignore the constant harassment from Emily but started finding it difficult. She let out a grunt and kept Violet close to her.

"Emily!" Alina growled, "Please stop, you keep hitting us."

"So?" She sent a small harmless shock at Alina, just pricking the skin, "I'm not hurting anyone."

"For the record, that did hurt. Stop. Now."

"Fine." Emily grained and cast one more spell. Two roots shot up at Karaline, and Violet's feet, causing them to both trips. Karaline grunted again, not falling, but more annoyed than anything. She looked at Violet, who stumbled and sighed. Karaline looked closer and was able to make out faint tear tracks running down the side of her mask, slowly dripping from the eye holes.

"Give me the wand, Emily." Alina held her hand out.

"What, why?"

"If you're going to be reckless and irresponsible, and hurt your allies, you shouldn't have it."

Emily groaned and hesitantly handed Alina her wand. Tightening her hand into a fist, and sending out a small shock to the ground.

"Still have these though." She wiggled her fingers, referring to the rings.

Just as Emily finished speaking, an arrow flew past her and scrapped Alina's arm. She hissed and turned around. Behind them seemed to be a small group of bandits. There were only about a dozen of them or so, but they all wore odd armor. They were made from traditional leather, but the armor was painted, as were their faces. The one leading them wore all black, and the others were able to immediately identify him as a vampire hunter from his garb alone. He wore a pinned black western hat and grinned at them.

"Nice magic show." He yelled, pulling a one-handed iron sword from its sheath on his belt. The other bandits each had a bow, and each one was drawn, aimed at one of the group members. Violet looked back at the attackers, crying still.

"Kill them all, and take their belongings. Make sure the boys look nice for Valhalla." He yelled, the bandits firing their arrows and dropping their bows, pulling out swords, and charging.

Sargon, Karaline, and Dalton all raised their shields and blocked the arrows directed at them. Violet hid behind Karaline for cover, and Emily quickly motioned her fingers, causing the arrows to ricochet and fly back at the other bandits. One arrow hit one of them in their arm, but it did little to slow him down. Alina drew her knives, intending to go for the vampire hunter. Once one got close to Sargon, he waited for him to attack before bashing the sword with the shield, disarming the bandit, and jabbing him in the cut with his halberd. He frowned at him, and tossed him aside, swinging his weapon at the bandit bleeding on the ground, and cutting deep into his chest the ax side of the weapon. Blood splattered onto the snow, causing the pure white power to turn red and pink. Karaline saw two approaching her. She took one, and Violet the other. Karaline did the same as Sargon, although that bandit was prepared. Once his weapon was gone, he drew a knife, and threw it at Karaline, causing her to stumble a bit as it bounded off her armor, giving the bandit a moment to shove her to the ground, though she was quick and swung at him as she fell, cutting a deep gash into his arm, and raining blood down to the ground.

Violet didn't need her attacker to get close. She spun her staff in her hand and fired a hail of black arrows that flew from it. They swerved in the air and penetrated the bandit at the head, chest, and leg. He flew back and landed on the ground, dead. The other arrows turned in the air, and flew for the one Karalien injured, piercing his skin at the mouth, causing the skill to crack and the arrow to fly out the other end of his head. He fell dead as well. Dalton cracked her neck and charged at her bandit. She bashed him with her shield and stabbed him under his leather armor, and up, gutting him, as she dragged her knife across his stomach, pouring the insides out onto the ground. Another bashed Dalton his with shield and knocked her over, but he was quickly cut down by Sargon, who cast a similar spell to Violet's, only instead of arrows, they were sparks of black energy.

Emily stretched her wings out and used them to propel herself into the air. She landed on one bandit, as another came at her from the side. Emily looked down and placed the palm of her hand against the face of the man, and began blasting it with fire. He screamed in pain as his skin melted and the fire began shooting down his throat, burning his insides. Emily then took her hand away, and formed a ball of fire in her hand, throwing it at the approaching bandit, like throwing a ball. He blocked it with his blade and swung at Emily. She was able to jump to the side, and quickly slash her arms in an X shaped manor, causing two large roots to shoot from the ground, and stab the man in the gut at both ends. The shoot up through him and formed an X sticking up from the ground. One root broke through the man's chest, and caught his arm, ripping it off with great strength. He stood there and bled out, crying in pain. His ally, beneath him, squirmed and rolled around as the fire inside him kept burning.

Violet saw another bandit approaching, and fired another dark arrow at him. It stopped him in his tracks as it hit his knee, and caused him to stumble and fall right ingot Karaline's upper attack, slicing his head clean off. Sargon and Dalton teamed up on another approaching bandit. He was dual-wielding two, one-handed swords. Every time Sargon or Dalton would strike him, he would move the sword and block it, immediately kicking them back with every attack. He soon spun one sword in his hand and charged at Sargon, but Dalton tackled him to the ground, and Sargon brought the spike of his halberd down onto the man's chest, lifting him into the air with a loud grunt, and tossing him away to bleed out in the snow.

Alina had a similar technique to Emily's. She flew up for a moment and dived at her attackers. Landing on one, and jabbing her knife into his eye, stabbing the brain and killing him. She then spun, and tossed it at the approaching one, getting it stuck in his shoulder, she ran at him, as his other ally fired an arrow at Alina. She used the injured bandit as cover, seeing the arrow stick into his back, and he cried out in pain. Alina shoved him to his ally, causing them to stumble backward. She then pulled the knife from the injured opponent and stabbed the other, slashing her vampire nails across the neck of the other bandit. She bites down into the attacker and left both to bleed out on the ground, groaning, and gagging on their blood. She stood up and was tackled by the vampire hunter.

She pushed him off and tried stabbing him with her knife. The blade entered his arm, and he grunted, stumbling back and away from Alina He looked around and saw his allies dead. He shook his head and raised his sword, striking at Alina. She quickly grabbed the blade of her most recent victim and parried the hunter's attack. The two clashed blades, not one being able to successfully hit the other. Soon the vampire hunter grinned, and strict at Alina, though when she paired, he reached behind him and tossed a small throwing knife at Alina. It entered her gut and began burning her as the holy water on it, now frozen to the blade, melted in her warm insides. The hunter took this opportunity to run off into the snowy forest, not retreating, but tried to get the vampire away from her allies. Alina took the bait and pulled the knife out, tossing it into the snow, and running after him.

Alina chased after the vampire hunter into the forest. Soon, after a moment the vampire hunter turned and drew his knife, and threw it at Alina. She slipped to the side to avoid the knife, and instead grabbed it herself, and threw it back at him. The hunter did the same as her and slipped to the side. He gripped the handle of his sword with both hand's, and raised it, getting into a fighting stance. Alina lifted the sword of his fallen ally and swinging her blade at the hunter. Her eyes glowed red, and her fangs and claws extended out. The wind began to blow, and the trees shook, some snow falling and showering onto the two. The hunter parried Alina's attack and swung himself. The two went back and forth once more, dueling with their blades. The hunter was able to get a hit or two on Alina, and she was able to do the same, only landing two or three on the hunter. Both were equally skilled in combat.

Alina felt the breeze of an arrow fly past her. She looked back and saw two other vampire hunters nearby. She grunted as the hunter she was fighting jabbed his blade into her stomach, while she was distracted. Alina grunted and pushed the hunter off, pulling the blade out and tossing it to the ground, turning to look at the approaching hunters. They both had bows, and each fired an arrow. Alina was able to easily evade them. It was a trap, the hunter had led her to his other allies. The first hunter pushed Alina from behind, and she stumbled back a bit. Her foot landed on a small ditch of snow, and two large clams came up and crushed her leg. A trap used for hunting bears was hidden beneath the snow. The flinched in pain as her leg was now stuck in the trap. She looked around and now noticed the several holes across the ground where more of these traps were most likely hidden. Alina bent over and pulled the trap apart, and pulled her foot out, only to get an arrow in her shoulder. The metal of the tip of the arrow burned her skin, and she turned to look back at the approaching hunters. Alina reached down and pulled out both her knives before running towards them. She was sure to not step in any of the holes and chose to run around them. When she got close enough, Alina jumped up, and flapped her wings, giving herself a boost as she launched herself towards them. They both had their swords drawn and where ready. Alina landed in front of them, and ducked down, swinging for their kneecaps. She was successful, as the two hunters were not expecting the vampire to strike there. Her blades entered their knees and caused them to fall over. Unlucky for her, they fell onto her, jabbing their blades into her back, and digging it deep as they put their weight on it.

Alina grunted again and tried to get up, using what strength she had to push the hunters off. The blades were stuck in her back, and one of them was now partially in the ground, meaning she was pinned. The original hunter approached and laughed.

"Got you." He cracked his knuckles and drew his second knife, ready to stab Alina's heart and kill her. Alina tried to think of a way out of this, and an idea came to mind. A black mist formed around her and Alina was engulfed in it. The mist faded and a crow flew from it, and into the trees, leaving the blades on the ground. Once the crow was far enough, it once again got engulfed in black mist, and Alina reappeared in its place. She hissed at the burning pain in her back and got up off the ground. Her clothes were now soaked from all the snow she had been rolling around in. Another idea came to mind, and she quickly flew into the tree's above, going quiet. The hunter's soon arrived where she was last seen and started looking. They knew how vampires worked and scanned the trees for her. It was then, that she jumped down, and jabbed both her knives into the heads of the two injured hunters. Cracking their skulls and killing them. The first hunter turned and swung his sword, cutting Alina's chest.

Alina jumped at him and tackled the hunter to the ground. She wrapped her hands around his neck and started squeezing. Her nails were digging into his flesh, causing blood to drip out, and color the snow. He grabbed Alina's hands and tried pulling her hands off him, but was unsuccessful. He started choking and running out of air. Alina continued choking him but then had a better idea. The hunter quickly knee'd Alina's back and the sore spot where the blade entered her back. She released her grip for a moment and gave the hunter a chance to grab Alina, and roll over so that he was on top. Another trap clamped down onto Alina's shoulder as she rolled into it, and the hunter grabbed both her wrists, pinning them above her head. He was breathing heavily and trying to breathe. Alina struggled to free her hands, but the hunter held strong. He let out a chuckle. Both of them were now in a standstill. If the hunter was to go for his weapon, Alina could use her hands again, if he was to keep her pinned down, they would get no wear. The hunter thought about this and watched as the vampire beneath him struggled to get up. He looked around and spotted more nearby holes, with traps. Quickly, Alina kneed him while he was distracted, and got him off. She took the chance to grab the trap and pull it off. She got up and jumped at the hunter, once again in the same position as before.

She wrapped her hand around his neck, but this time, reached for the other knife on her belt and jabbed it into the hunter's chest. Alina pulled it out and stabbed him again, and again. She repeatedly pounded the knife deeper, and deeper into his chest. The hunter started to cough up blood, spit it out at the vampire, but she did little to care. Alina stopped and stood up, looking down at the barely breathing enemy. He wheezed as she had punctured one of his lungs, slowly, it filled with his blood.

"Damn." He said weakly. Alina loomed over him and put her knife back in its sheath. She raised an eyebrow and eyed the figure, before lifting her foot, and bringing it down hard onto his face, bashing it in. She repeated this until her boot caused the skull to cave in on itself and crush the brain. Alina breathed heavily and looked down at her work. Two dead hunters with knives through the tops of their skulls, and another with a sunken in, and bloody face. The snow around her was painted with blood. Alina took a moment to catch her breath, and walked back to the other two bandits, pulling her knives from their heads. Alina then froze. Emily's scream rang out, and Alina immediately put her knives away and started running to where it came from.

***

The others watched as Alina run off after the hunter. The fight was over, and it was rather easy. They were all skilled at what they did. Sargon took a breather, while Karaline and Violet started looting the corpses of their victims. The once peaceful and untouched snow they had been walking upon, was now filled with holes, and puddles of blood, alongside the eleven dead bodies now sunken into it. Emily got down next to the one she burned from the inside out and bit down into his neck. She began sucking in his blood, as it was something Alina had thought her to do recently. She continued sucking the blood and sat up, gasping for air, and letting out a relieved sigh. Fresh blood was always better than blood that had been sitting in a jar for a week.

Karaline flipped the body over and began reaching into his pockets to see if she could find anything. A bag of gold, a potion, a few small things. When she was ready to search the other one a bolt of lightning shot at it, causing the corpse to jump in reflex. Karaline gasped and jumped back, startled, then saw Emily giggling in the direction the strike came from. With that, she snapped.

"Enough!" She screamed.

"What?" Emily said, shrugging her shoulders, "Just making sure he's dead.

"Enough with your stupid jokes! You've caused enough annoying problems already! You were the one who led these fuckers to us! Either you stop or I will break you as promised!"

"Hmmm, kind of want to see you try," Emily smirked. She knew Alina would prevent this from happening, but she hadn't realized Alina was gone. Karaline cracked her knuckles and started walking over to Emily.

"You sure you want to test your luck?"

"Maybe!" She grinned and chuckled slightly. Without hesitation, Emily formed a ball of fire in her hand and tossed it at Karaline. She stood their, unfazed as the fire did little to damage her armor.

"That's it!" She forcefully grabbed Emily's wrist, squeezing it tight, and yanking on her arm, dragging Emily towards the snowy forest.

"God! Shit! Let me go!" She yelled, yelping at the pain. She tried using her feet to slow Karaline down, but she didn't stop. She gripped Emily's wrist tighter, causing small fractures in her bones.

"No! It's time I keep my promise!" She growled and dragged Emily into the trees. The girl struggled as she was dragged through the snow. Emily would grab tree's and try to prevent Karaline from dragging her, but it proved useless. Once far enough into the frost-covered forest, she grabbed Emily by the neck and slammed her against the nearest tree. Emily grunted and grabbed at Karaline's arm, trying to free herself, but Karaline took the chance to grab one of Emily's arm. She gripped Emily's arm tight, and snapped it in half, forcing the bone to break through the skin and splat blood onto the tree.

Emily went silent for a moment as her brain processed what had just happened, and soon she let out a blood-curdling scream. She thrashed around, trying to get Karaline to let go of her, tearing up as her arm hung limp at her side, broken and bending the opposite direction. Karaline didn't let up. She slammed her foot against Emily's knee cap and reversed the position on her leg, more snaps could be heard as Emily's leg was bent. She screamed again as her leg went limp. She was crying and trying to hit Karaline, but she felt weak and out of breath. Her heart was racing. Karaline didn't stop, she kneed Emily's gut, and lifted her higher. Emily grunted and gasped for air, then shrieked as Karaline jabbed her sword into Emily's chest, and deep into the tree, pinning her to it, and leaving her dangling, unable to move. Karaline then grabbed Emily's other arm and pulled hard on it, dislocating it from her arm, causing Emily to let out another cry of pain.

"P... P..." Emily tried speaking, but her speech was impaired. She could hardly find the strength to breathe. Slowly, her arm began healing itself, and the bone snapped back into place, the skin repairing itself.

"P- Please... Please" She coughed up blood as Karaline broke her arm again, the pain increasing to the point where she couldn't feel her arm. She dangled, unable to resist.

"Please what? Please more? I can do that." She raised both her fist's and swung hard, hitting Emily square in the face, breaking her nose and causing blood to pour out. Emily cried more, and Karaline hit her again, swinging her fist hard, and hitting Emily like a punching bag. Soon, her body and face were bruised black and yellow. The sound of her crying echoed in the forest, and Dalton, Violet, and Sargon all sat on the battlefield, hearing the screams but doing nothing about it. Violet cringed as she heard the young vampire cry out in pain. She sighed and stood up, and turned to go over and stop Karaline, only for Dalton to grab her shoulder and stop her. For as much as she loved Emily, she agreed that Emily deserved this in a way. Violet looked back towards the forest and looked down, sitting beside Dalton again, and twirling her fingers around, trying to distract herself from the pain. Emily shook her head and let out a hoarse cry, her leg bending in a nonhuman way, her fingers broken, and blood dripping from her clothes.

"P... please... s... to... stop." She whimpered in a hoarse voice.

"Stop? Now? This was starting to get fun!" She said, punching Emily hard between her legs. There was another cracking sound, followed by her pants damping, and streaks of piss running down her legs. Emily gasped and cried more, started to lose her voice.

"P- P- Please!" She begged Karaline. The sword in her chest was burning her insides and skin. Karaline did stop, but only for a moment, letting Emily's body heal before continuing. She watched as her legs and arms fixed themselves, and went back to work. She bent each of Emily's finger's once again, each one going in a different direction. Then she twisted Emily's arms till the bone snapped, and broke the skin again. Emily continued to cry, unable to properly scream or speak anymore. Karaline grabbed Emily's legs and broke both joins connected to her lower torso. Multiple tear tracks were running down Emily's face, and blood ran down her body. Karaline raised her fists again and went back to using Emily as a punching bag. The spot between her legs had gotten wetter, and soon there was a yellow puddle in the snow under her, mixed in with the blood. Karaline then moved to the side, and grabbed both of Emily's wing bones, pulling them out of place and breaking them, Emily let out a loud cry as the most sensitive bones in her body where dislocated and broken.

Karaline stepped back and looked at her work. She looked at Emily and noticed the rings on her fingers.

"Oh... these seem expensive." She held down the ring on her finger with the red gem. "What if I were to crush it?" She said, slowly taking a grip on the finger. Emily only shook her head rapidly. Karaline took that as a sign to continue and crushed the ring with her fingers. Simultaneously, as the ring broke, there was a brief burst of fire, that burned both Karaline and Emily. The girl groaned as the ring burned her hand and as it was crushed to dust. Karaline chuckled, and gripped the next ring beside that, crushing it, causing a shock wave explosion on Emily's hand, dislocating more bones in her body.

"Plea... sto..." She tried begging again, but Karaline didn't listen. She moved over to the ghostly blue ring and prepared to crush it with her fingers. Emily's eyes widened and quickly flashed a crimson color. She screamed as her fangs and claws shot out. Emily quickly swung at Karaline with her other arm, attempting to scratch her away. She then weakly lifted her hand to her chest and pressed the ring against herself.

"P- p- please... not him..." She said weakly, "He's all I h- have left." Her voice got noticeably quieter and more horse. Karaline backed up once she noticed Emily's sudden will to fight back. She stopped and stared at the girl. Emily hung in front of her. A sword in her chest. Her legs bent in two different directions, and her fingers dislocated and shattered. Her arm's broken and dislocated. Piss running down her leg, and blood pouring out from the wounds in her body. Bone breaking through the skin. Her claws and fangs retracted, her eyes returning to normal. She didn't resist anymore, allowing herself to hang there and cry over the thought of losing her last surviving family member.

Karaline took a deep breath and was immediately tackled to the side. Alina let out an unearthly screech and pinned Karaline to the ground, slamming her as hard as she could to the ground. Alina grabbed the sides of the breastplate Karaline wore and tore it off, not caring that the metal burned her. She started clawing at Karaline's chest and stomach, tearing up the cloth of her clothes and ripped her entire front up, revealing a bit more than Karaline wanted. There was a bright red glare in Alina's eyes as she cast a burning glare at her. Karaline let out her own screams of pain, as she was clawed into. Gasping for air, and breathing heavily.

The wrath in Alina's face only made her look more monstrous. Massive, ragged, black-feathered wings arched over them, making her seem bigger than she actually was. Karaline had never seen Alina angrier. The vampire grabbed Karaline's chin and dug her nails into her cheek.

"I'm going to give you one chance!" She snarled, "One fucking chance, to explain yourself!"

"I did what I promised. Taught the girl a lesson." She weakly said back to her, "She made Violet cry. She has done nothing but bully her and the rest of us. I made sure that would never happen again."

"So you broke her to pieces! You Ruined her! If she hadn't been turned, she would be fucking DEAD!" Alina's voice rose to a shriek as she finished talking. There was a brief pause in her speech to take a breath, then hissed at Karaline, "She needs to learn. But that's not an appropriate fucking response!"

"You really think I'd do this to her if she wasn't a rapid healing vampire?"

"I don't know, and I don't CARE! What if something happened? What if you decided to stab her and your steel sword went through her heart?! What then!" Alina screamed, eyes wide. At the moment it became clear, that the punishment did not fit the crime, but maybe Alina was scared too. Scared something might happen to Emily. There was the same wild tinge to her expression that had followed her episode after the fall into the water.

"First of all, why would I? That thing is as big as you and can cut people in half. Secondly, I know where a vampire's heart is. It's the same area as any other. I may swing my sword around and slice bandits in half in an instant, but I'm not a fucking brute. I don't do things like this if I didn't have a reason to."

"Oh really?!" Alina asked incredulously, "So you think being a bit overzealous with magical teases warrants TORTURE?!!"

"Magical abuse? Do you have any idea, how many times that bitch has harassed Violet with magic? Made fun of her? Bullied her? I can handle the constant abuse but Violet's had it. How many times have you seen Emily abuse and tease the girl with magic? I can count about six times on the way to the vault alone."

"So why do you think I took her wand before we were attacked! THAT'S HOW YOU MISHANDLE MISUSE OF SOMETHING, NOT BREAKING BONES AND BURNING HER!" Alina tightened her grip on Karaline's neck as her voice raised in volume in shrillness.

"And pray tell how that has worked out? She fucking zapped the dead body's we were looting. Karaline yelled, choking slightly. The skin on her body started to heal as well, leaving her bare chest in the cold. She was shivering.

"So!? You take her wand! Give it to me when I come back! Not torture her! You FUCKING hypocrite! Does THAT not count as abuse!?"

"Again, how well has 'restricting her access to magic' done? If you want someone to get the message, you have to force it." Karaline pushed Alina off her, and rolled over, coughing, and shivering. Alina snarled at Karaline and ran to Emily. The girl hung from the tree, sobbing softly as she dangled and bled onto the snow. Her body had healed in the meantime, but the pain from her bones breaking lingered. She still felt it all over, and couldn't move. Alina gently tried pulling the sword from Emily and out of the tree. The girl fell and crashed down to the floor, not feeling the pain from the sword being pulled. She could hardly feel anything. Alina wrapped Emily into a hug and wrapped her wings around her protectively trying to keep out the cold. She ran her hand through Emily's hair and tried comforting her a the girl cried in pain.

"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay... you'll be okay... you're not going away... not again," Alina whispered into Emily's ear, as tears ran down the side of her face.

Karaline stood up weakly and covered her breasts with her arm, while she grabbed her breastplate, and re-equip it. She shivered and started weakly walking back to where the others were, planning on setting camp up there for the night.

***

The sun had set, and the sky was covered by a blanket of stars. The moon above shinned pale light onto the snow-covered ground. A fire was melting the snow away in a small area, as Karaline sat beside Violet and Dalton. The three were staring into the fire, each one tired in their own way. They didn't speak. All of them were starting to regret letting all that happen, after seeing Emily and the state she was in after. A few tents were set up around the group, but one was further away. Far away. A tent for two was set up a walk's away near a large rock. Emily was leaning it against it. Motionless and crying. She had her wings wrapped around herself, with Ehu being hugged underneath. Her whole body still felt sore. She eventually lowered her wings as she got tired. She hadn't eaten anything since the incident, and it was showing. She was breaking weakly, and her voice was raspy. Her stomach growled, and she would grip it every time. Her clothes were torn from her bones breaking the skin and ripping the fabric. She hadn't said a word or addressed anyone since. Karaline had broken her.

Alina carefully approached her and passed her a flask of blood, and some bread stored away. Emily weekly looked over at Alina. She looked scared. Hesitantly, she reached for the flask. It was like she was afraid to take it from Alina. The vampire held it out a little more and the child took it. Emily looked down at it but didn't drink. Alina sat beside her and wrapped a wing around the two.

"Eat." She mumbled, "It'll help, if only a little." Alina started running her hand through Emily's hair again, avoiding the two horns poking out.

"Is she okay?"

Alina looked up and saw Sargon standing there. He had a frown on his face as he looked genuinely concerned. Alina only shook her head in response, looking back at Emily. Her hands were shaking. Slowly, she lifted the blood flask and drank from it. When she finished, it fell from her hands and landed upright in the snow. She curled up, this time leaning on Alina. Emily didn't notice Sargon near her, in fact, she was hardly noticing anything. She just stared blankly at nothing as tears continued rolling down her cheeks. Her nose was red and was running. The only thing Emily could notice was Alina. But every time she looked t her, all she saw was a reflection of her own mother. Alina only held Emily close, hugging her and comforting her.

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