A vampire is a creature which needs no introduction. The most terrifying monsters are the ones who are infamous even outside the world of mages. Now, I'm stuck in place watching as the legendary vampire makes its way towards me. "You've frozen in fear already? Come on, where's the gusto from before?"

  My head feels like it's about to explode with how hard I'm gritting my teeth. Its taunts aren't anything clever, but for some reason its every word charge sme with fury. That charisma, the ability to sway the hearts of men, is what makes it so dangerous. Keeping your emotions in check is just common sense, but right now, I don't feel like I need to. Is there any reason to be cautious against someone you've already crushed before?

  "Boring. My standards for a man of your ilk were already abysmal, but you've fallen beneath them. Disappear."

  We lunge in at the same time, but it throws the first blow. My arm enhanced by prana is placed to shrug it aside again, but a stabbing pain forces me to take a step back. Like red iceberg lettuce, my arm has been shred open. The vampire flashes fingernails that have grown as long as daggers, and it bursts forward cackling, swinging downwards haphazardly, and I thrust out a palm, spitting fire across the tunnel.

  Dust spreads across the tunnel, and I relax. That inferno should've gotten the best of it, and yet I see a figure standing tall with its arm outstretched, mist pouring outwards. The mist coalesces inwards to reform its hand, and the vampire continues undeterred. I keep taking in short breaths that don't get enough oxygen to my brain. Despite the burning heat, cold sweat is dripping down my forehead.

  What differentiates a vampire from a ghoul isn't just intelligence. It's their plethora of unusual abilities, abilities that I didn't see last time. I can only counter attack while walking backwards, but every fireball peters out on the misty barrier, and I can tell my path is about to get cut short. I dash out of the way to get room to breathe, a stabbing elbow catching me, flinging me out of the stream and into a wall with a thud.

  With a nimble hop, it exits the stream and then stabs forward. I narrowly pull my head out of the way, and its other hand reaches straight towards my heart. I throw my hand out to grab its, our fingers intertwining. It clenches its fist, and excruciating pain fills my hand. It frees its other hand from the wall, and I grab it by the wrist, pushing with all my might to keep it away. It bares its fangs, and slowly reaches towards my neck.

  I have to burn it now. Right here, at point blank, with no distance to shield myself, I need to unleash hell, or else everything ends. No, even if I do it, I'll probably still die. Should I kill myself, or let myself be killed? I'm trapped in this damned dark place about to die far away from my home where its warm and I'm so, so alone. My mind is racing and everything is flashing before my eyes, searching for some respite from this place, until I arrive at the image of a figure in white.

  An earshattering boom blows by me along with the violent sound of concrete and flesh tearing apart. As I return to my senses, I find that the vampire has leapt off of me and landed back in the waters, leaving behind pieces of its hands that gently fall to the ground besides me. Some rubble is trickling down onto my head, and I look up to find a large gash in the stone wall. That figure in white is walking over to me without a single wound on her body.

  She glances at me for a moment, before turning over to the vampire below. "Greetings," she says. The vampire below replies "Good evening," and I am left in complete disbelief. "You wiped out the riffraff so quickly? That's really cold, doing that to what used to be your kin, you know-"

  "Don't waste your time on that. It won't work," Irene says firmly. The vampire chuckles, and replies, "You're right. You look strong. I suppose you want to know which lineage I stem from?" She nods. "That's important. I've never heard of a vampire who'd stoop to living in a sewer."

  The vampire falls silent for a moment, seemingly ticked off. It starts again, its words more venomous than ever. "You think I'm weird? I've never heard of a human who couldn't care any less about their own brutally killed and turned into puppets. Is there anything in that head of yours? Do you really not care at all, you monster?"

  Very matter-of-factly, she responds, "Of course I care. It's only right to."

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Blood is pounding through every corner of my body, and I still haven't moved from my spot on the ground. I can't handle this anymore. Everything here is going terribly wrong. "What the fuck!? Are you insane? What the hell are you even talking about? Is that what you've got to say to this monster!?" My voice is cracked and strained, and warmth is welling up in my face. With the last of my voice, I scream out, "Let's get the hell out of this place already!"

  The vampire instantly breaks out into laughter, clutching its sides and doubling over at my pleading and Irene looks back at me with an awfully confused expression. I push off the ground, paying nothing any heed, aiming only for my target. I crash towards it with a storm of fire that it simply sidesteps, its eyes still filled with tears of jubilation. Suddenly, it's lifted off its feet into the end of the tunnel, its eyes widening with mounting fury.

  The wind swirls about Irene, as she fires tempest after tempest. Our enemy weaves and bobs, crawling off walls as it rushes back towards us. I run forwards at the same time, unloading a bolt of fire into its path. Without turning to me, a shield of mist is formed, but it's blown away by a gust of wind. At last, the vampire burns again.

  Its movements are erratic as it scrambles back and rolls to put out the flames, but Irene bears down upon it, cutting it off as it gets back to its feet. She swings her arm down, a pillar of wind slicing down towards it decisively. The monster looks up with bloodshot eyes, blood seeping out of its burn wounds. It mutters something under its breath, and crimson thread bursts from its body, dissipating the wind and stabbing into Irene with a sickening squelch. "You're not as strong as you look after a-" it spits out, as I run it down with a blade of fire, cutting through the threads, but failing to pass its shield.

  Another pulse of wind dissipates the mist right on cue, as I kick forward, a jet of fire searing its arm as it slashes back, lacerating my foot. I stumble, but Irene is there to cover me, joining in up close. I bite down and rush forwards, and the two of us begin to tear into it.

  It's a storm of grabbing, stabbing, kicking, and punching, punctuated by groans of pain. It manages to shove me off with the force of a speeding dump truck, and turns its full attention over to Irene.

  The blood that pours out from the vampire's wounds is like a living thing, coiling into countless flowing tendrils surrounding its body. All of its weapons reach out towards her at once. A barrier of wind is cast up, but it's ripped apart like scrap paper, a heavy blow dropping Irene onto one knee.

  With a flick of her fingers, wind gathers about, enclosing the vampire in something like a tornado. This won't last long. I raise one shaking hand and sink as much heat as I can into a blaze that's amplified by the wind, boiling the vampire alive in its own blood. The monster is not granted any last words, leaving behind only shrill and eerie death throes.

  Maybe the inferno cleared, and maybe it didn't. I can't really say anything for sure anymore. I feel like I'm wading through a dream on a predestined course. I'm fading away from this concrete world, flowing down a river. At the end of it is a bottomless pit, or Heaven maybe, but possibly Hell.

  "Tertias. Tertias. Playing dead won't convince me to leave you be. Don't ignore me."

  I'm snapped back into a sharper reality. A bloody index finger is being poked into my gut, and I feel myself becoming whole again. A vaguely caring face is trying to grab my attention. "We got it done?"

  "Indeed we did. Now we can, uh, get out of here."

  I wish I had the energy to collapse into a ball right here.

  Irene's healing turned out to be a lot more limited than I'd imagined. I could still barely move, and had to rely on her entirely for transportation to the Eagle's Hand. A gust of wind is actually a surprisingly comfortable bed. Once we arrived, we took turns with the shower, and I was gifted somebody's jeans and white T-shirt, discarding my only suit into the garbage bin.

  I was feeling a lot better after everything, and was slowly savoring a humble cup of green tea. Irene had already drained hers, and now just sits across from me. "Well," I start, "I guess we did a pretty good job. Um, seeing as we killed a vampire, and a pretty powerful one at that, we'll be getting a reward, correct?"

  She nods. "Yes, and it'll be a hefty one. The best part is earning the favor of the Association of course. That's even more valuable than the cash and the artifact reward."

  I sit up so suddenly my head spins, and ask, "Wait, how large of a sum am I looking at here?"

  "I estimate about, hmm, fifty thousand dollars. But, it gets even better; There's a possibility that you receive double that."

  If fifty thousand dollars had my eyes popping out of their sockets, then one hundred thousand shot them across the room. "Please continue!"

  "The reward is cut fifty-fifty, since we're from separate cells. So, if we were a part of the same group, we'd share a whole reward."

  "Wait, wait, you're gonna offer me a job?"

  There's suddenly a dramatic air about her, as she stands up before proclaiming, "No. Instead, I'd like to join you."