A Scripta

Kalius didn't know why everyone talked about him so reverently. He was a tall, thin man, his blond hair parted on the side, dressed in a blue suit. Dmitrius looked far more intimidating than this man. He looked better suited in a board room than as what he visualized was a prince.

However, the man walked through, and others showed him deference. Rowena saw the Prince and something came over her, an angry look. The prince headed her way, and Rowena put a smile on her face for him. "Rowena, dear," said the Prince, and kissed her cheeks. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you, my Prince."

He turned to look at Dmitrius. "Hello, Dimitri."

"Prince Allard," Dmitrius said with a bow of his head.

Allard looked at Kalius. "This is the man you left my service for?"

"I am Kalius of Thebes," he said.

Allard looked merely amused. "Indeed." He turned from them to Rowena. "I believe I see Nikoli. Excuse me." He put a hand on her forearm and headed out into the crowd.

"He tried to have you killed, Dimitrius," she whispered to him.

"I know," Dmitrius replied, and kept a hold on Kalius.

Entertainment was some music and dancing out back. The party started to get in full swing, as loaded up humans and equally loaded vampires let loose inhibitions. Dmitrius was talking to Josef, when he saw the Prince walking back into the house, Rowena following behind him. Dmitrius tapped Josef, interrupting him, and motioned with his head to them. Josef looked curious, and sped through the crowd to follow. Dmitrius and Kalius also did.

They found the two in the kitchen. Josef to the side of the door, evesdropping, but Dmitrius and Kalius were in the hallway with a clear view of Allard's back. Rowena was pushed up against the kitchen sink. Dmitrius couldn't see her face. Allard brought his arm up to his mouth, and then put it against Rowena's mouth. They could see Rowena put her lips on it, and then she looked up at him with fury in her eyes. She hauled off and slapped him across the face.

Josef moved, a gun drawn, and Dmitrius instinctively pushed Kalius behind him. He held the gun to Allard's head, and assessed the situation. "You didn't..."

"I did," Dmitrius said, stepping forward.

Rowena yelled, "To protect me from you!" She glared at Allard. "You tried to bond me! A justicar!"

Josef looked to Dmitrius, then Rowena, then Allard. He pressed the gun harder against Allard's head. "Spill it."

Allard drew himself up to his full height. "I don't have to tell you anything."

Rowena said, "That won't work on me anymore."

Josef said, close to Allard's ear, "Or me, either."

Allard stared straight ahead, like a statue. Then something burst through the kitchen window.

It was a huge black thing made out of legs that surrounded it in a circle, like a demented clock gear. It had a distorted face in its center and hands coming out from it. The feet kicked Josef's arm, and the gun went off into the ceiling. The thing seemed to roll out into the hallway. Kalius tried to trip it, and the hands grabbed at Kalius' leg. Kalius summoned his sword and chopped at it, slicing off one of the legs. It fell off in a gush of blood. The thing screamed, a woman's terrified howl of pain.

Josef had tackled Allard, and Rowena dove out of the way of the window. Other creatures came piling through the window. A round ball with bone hooks tipped in metal, barefooted with a mouth on its top and eyes all around it, headed right for Dmitrius. A crocodile-like thing with huge hands and spines for bumps also came climbing through.

Dmitrius punched through the round ball, his arm getting gouged by the hooks. Kalius moved out from behind him and went after the crocodile. Josef was fighting off a wolf-headed creature with a snake's tail instead of back legs. Allard had run out the side door into the garage. Rowena took off after him.

Kalius looked up from his fight with the crocodile and saw a woman behind Dmitrius. She stabbed him through the back with a bone-like spike that came out of his chest, thick black blood all over it. Kalius yelled, "No!" and he rushed at her, sword swinging. In a perfect arc, he sliced her head in half, barely missing Dmitrius' shoulder. He couldn't get a clear shot to behead her, so he pulled Dmitrius by the shoulder, yanking him off the spike. Dmitrius thudded to the floor. The woman laughed, but it came out as a gurgle. Now clear, he swung hard, lopping off the woman's head at the shoulders.

He turned to Dmitrius, lying on the floor, the wound closing quickly. He smiled at Kalius, reassuring him. "Been a while since that happened. I'm getting lazy." Kalius helped Dmitrius up. "Where's--"

Now Kalius heard the sounds of battle in the other room. He had been so focused in the kitchen, that he hadn't heard anything beyond. Dmitrius and Kalius both ran down the narrow hallway, following the blood trail of the multi-legged creature. The room was engulfed in chaos, with creatures and vampires fighting among each other. The floor was slick with blood, and frenzied vampires were everywhere. Dmitrius and Kalius looked at each other, then both turned back toward the room. Yelling the warcry of the Sacred Band of Thebes, they surged forward into the fray.