Another blast shook the night just as Ellie finished dressing. The deep roar of the thunderous sound was much louder this time, shaking the walls and floors, sending Ellie off balance.

“Wraith!” Ellie shouted as she stumbled back across the shaking floor. “Help!”

The vampire flashed across the room in an instant, catching Ellie in his arms. Another blast boomed in the distance, closer this time. Dust sprinkled from the walls and ceilings. Bright balls of fire bloomed across the black horizon outside. “What the hell is going on?!” Ellie asked.

Wraith released Ellie from his grasp and looked about the room. “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here.” He turned his eyes back on her. “Do we have any stuff?”

Ellie stared at the vampire quizzically. “Stuff?”

“Stuff!” he roared impatiently. “Did we have anything important with us?”

“You really don’t remember anything, do you?” Ellie scanned her eyes across the room. They were both wearing all their clothes now. The only thing remaining was Wraith’s satchel. “You had a bag with you back at the arena. The last time I saw it was before the fight.”

Wraith’s face screwed tight in confusion. “Fight?” He shook his head and grabbed Ellie by the hand. “The town below is a war zone, it’s far too dangerous to go back now. Follow me.”

They sprinted across the room. Wraith was just about to throw the door open when a knock came. He paused momentarily and glanced over at Ellie. “Are we expecting company?”

Not that Ellie could think of. She pressed her eye to the door’s peephole and saw Natalie standing on the other side. There was momentary relief at seeing the girl. She was a familiar face, she was trustworthy. She wasn’t a vampire. Ellie opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief. “Natalie! What’s happening?!”

“The Reds are attacking us,” Natalie said as she stepped to the side of the doorway. A couple of people ran past in the hallway behind her, screaming and crying in panic. “Rourke has ordered us to abandon the Northern border. We’re grabbing every vampire that’s still alive and heading north on bikes. I’m heading to the bike house now. Come with me.” Natalie turned to run down the hallway but stopped as Wraith stuck his hand out and grabbed her wrist.

“Hang on a second. Just who the hell are you, and who the hell is this Rourke figure?”

Confusion brewed on Natalie’s brow, her eyes flicking from Wraith’s to Natalie’s. “Is—Is he serious?”

Ellie sighed and forced Wraith to let go of Natalie. “It’s fine Wraith,” she sighed and then turned to Natalie. “He’s… having some problems with his memory. Everything that’s happened since we arrived is a blank to him.”

Natalie stared at Wraith momentarily, her eyes studying him intensely. “Wraith huh? Back to your old name then? I got the impression you were trying to travel undercover.”

Ellie looked at the vampire and the servant. “Hold on, what? You know him?”

Natalie nodded. “Recognized him as soon as I saw him. He was a lot more feral looking when you both first came in, but there was no mistaking it. Wraith Belmont. Most of the blood servants back at Belmont castle cross Wraith at one point or another during their tenure.”

Ellie’s hand slipped from Wraith’s. She stared at him with her mouth hanging open, shaking her head as she stepped back. “You’re that Wraith. Wraith Belmont?!” Her mouth couldn’t quite put into words what a curveball that was to her mind. The Belmont family were perhaps the most infamous vampire family to the White Order. She didn’t know every single thing about its mystery family tree, but the name Wraith Belmont meant something to most people within the valley.

The name had never been more than a passing horror story to her ears, but now that Natalie had placed the vampire’s origin, Ellie felt stupid that the idea hadn’t crossed her mind until just now. “But he died!” she stammered. “They said he was dead—”

Wraith stared back at Ellie and Natalie, utterly clueless to what was going on. Natalie stared over at them both too, slightly less confused but still clearly full of questions. Another blast boomed outside, rattling the foundations of the guest house building.

“Look,” Natalie said, “I sense you’ve got a lot of questions to ask, but if we stand here much longer this building might fall down! We need to get to the bike garage now. I’m getting out of here! You two are welcome to follow me if you want!”

“Come,” Wraith said with a growl, seizing his hand around Ellie’s wrist and pulling her out of the door to follow Natalie. They ran halfway down the length of the corridor, blasts shaking all around them every few seconds. Natalie skidded to an unexpected halt at a stairwell entrance and looked back at them both.

“By the way, I’d go back to using your old name for now if I were you,” she said as she looked at Wraith. “No one else here has recognized you as far as I can tell. I don’t know how the atmosphere might change if Monica realized she had a Belmont within her grasp.”

“Got it,” Wraith growled as they resumed their escape. “Jack, it is.”

The group made their way down to the ground floor of the building and burst into the open cold air of the fiery night. The world was a panorama of fire and chaos, mayhem stretching out in every direction as far as the eye can see. Walls of flame flickered up into the night on their right, as fire turned the town below into ash.

Screams filled the night, accompanied by the sounds of distant explosions and general chaos. Natalie turned back and shouted to them over the din as they ran in the direction of the gate’s exit. “The garages are just up ahead!” she said and pointed at a large grey building fifty feet in front of them. Streams of bikes poured out of the large garage one after another, engines churning into the air while vampires made their escape.

Wraith kept his hand held tight on Ellie’s, never letting go of her, not once. She ran as fast as she could alongside the vampire, trying to quell the fear that raced inside of her, trying to ignore the sounds of screaming in the town below.

“Get out Natalie!” a voice roared up ahead as they ran past a burning building. A roughed-up vampire backed onto the path in front of them, eyes wild with panic, looking up at some unknown terror. The group skidded to a halt just in front of the vampire, unsure what prompted his terror.

Seconds later, two streaks of red blurred down from the sky, crashing into the ground around the vampire’s feet. The air cleared to reveal two vampires dressed in red, beating the Valentine vampire around like he was nothing.

“Looks like we’ve got company,” Wraith growled under his breath.

One of the circle vampires jerked his head up at the sound of Wraith’s voice and looked over at him. A manic grin filled his face, and he lifted a hand to point at the vampire. “Another one there!” the soldier roared, shoving his friend on the shoulder who was still going to town on the downed valentine vampire. “A Super! Look!”

Wraith pulled Natalie and Ellie behind him, putting distance between them and the attacking vampires just ahead. He glanced back quickly, his eyes alight with fury. “Stay put while I deal with this!”

“Wraith!” Ellie screamed out as she watched the vampire launch forward. “No!” Terror spun through Ellie at the prospect of watching Wraith fight again. She’d never seen vampires so willing to destroy their own kind like the Circle vampires, and Wraith was jumping straight into the deep end once more, pitting himself in a fight where he was outnumbered and potentially outgunned. What if the Widow’s Draught still had some sort of effect on his body? What if he wasn’t back to his old strength?

The fears swimming through her were quickly dispelled as she watched Wraith come to clash with the two soldiers in red. The deliberate speed of his pre-emptive attack had worked in his favor, and he jumped straight for the soldier that was still distracted with his merciless beating, knocking him back to the ground instantly. In an instant he spun round and launched his attack at the other soldier, flying at him with a flurry of lightning fast strikes that defied her eyes.

“Am I glad I’m with you guys!” Natalie shouted while tugging Ellie close to her. Wraith was making quick work of the two soldiers blocking their path. It was a struggle to keep up with the speed, but Ellie swore he even looked as if he were enjoying himself.

“We’ll be fine,” she said back to Natalie in reassurance, only half believing the words herself. “Once the path is clear we can—"

“Watch out!” a voice cried out behind them.

Natalie and Ellie both spun around to see another Circle vampire flying through the air toward them. Ellie let out a cry as the Red vampire grabbed her around the waist, his claws biting into her skin and burning her flesh like fire. “Get off!” she cried.

“You’re coming with me, bitch!” the soldier roared back. Natalie and Ellie both swung at the vampire viciously, but their strength was no good. Ellie was just about to give in and surrender to the creature’s superior strength when another streak of black blurred across the air in front of her, crashing into the Circle vampire to send him tumbling back.

This fight was over nearly as soon as it began, ending as the blond-haired vampire plunged a stake through the heart of the red-uniformed soldier. They both froze for the briefest second as the vampire in black delivered the killing blow, holding the wooden point in the chest of the defeated attacker. Fire and ash erupted in a violent well. Rourke Valentine stood up and approached Ellie and Natalie, smoothing his hand back over his hair and winking as he arrived before them. “These circle vampires can’t fight for shit.”

“Rourke!” Natalie ran forward and threw her arms around the vampire in relief. “We need to get out of here! Where’s Monica?”

Rourke placed his hands on Natalie’s shoulders as she pulled back from him. “She’s already on her way to Skarvast with any other bastard that was lucky enough to get out. We should—" Rourke paused and his eyes flashed behind Ellie, seeing that Wraith was still entangled in his fight. “Stay right here girls. Our champion fighter is back to throwing punches and it looks like he could use some help!”

Rourke took off again, jumping ahead to help Wraith with his fight. Ellie clung to Natalie as another bomb exploded into the night behind them. Rourke and Wraith made quick work of the two Circle vampires, staking them into flame and helping the regular up from the ground whom had been their initial target.

“Thanks for the assistance,” Wraith said to Rourke as they pulled the dim eyed vampire to his feet.

“Thank you,” Rourke said. “A lot of my coven fled at the first sign of the trouble, not a lot of vampires would stay back to help. Grab your servant, we’re heading for the garages up ahead. There should still be a few bikes left.”

Wraith gave a quick nod and ran back to Ellie, taking her hand into his as he met her. The world was a blaze of fire and mayhem, but just being close to him somehow made her feel safer. “Path is clear, let’s get out of here.”

The group ran across the clearing and made it to the garage without any further disturbance. Inside the garage was large and spacious, smelling faintly of grease and oil. Large fluorescent lights flickered overhead, swinging as distant explosions continued to shake the valley. Rourke ran over to a grey box on the wall, punched a code into it and threw open its silver door. He pulled out three sets of keys, hooking one through the air toward Wraith.

“Know how to drive one of these things?” Rourke shouted as Wraith caught his set of keys.

“Sure do. What’s the plan?”

“Grab yourself a couple of helmets from off the wall and take the black dirt bike just behind you. Take the track leading north. My coven is meeting at a town a few days north of here called Skarvast. It’s signposted, you can’t miss it.”

“What about you?” Wraith asked.

“I’ll be along soon. I just want to make sure no one’s left behind. Natalie and I will catch up.”

Wraith gave a quick nod, squeezed Ellie’s hand and turned his gaze on hers. “You okay?”

“I’m holding up all right,” she said, shaking a little from the adrenaline of the attack. “I’ll get the helmets, you get the bike started?”

A few seconds later Ellie was back at Wraith’s side, watching as he fired up the bike, listening as the engine roared into the night like a wild demon. He took his helmet, pulled it on and gestured for her to climb on behind him. Ellie paused and held her hand up “Just a second!”

“Ellie what the hell?!” Wraith called after her over the engine’s roar.

Ellie sprinted across the garage and wrapped her arms around Natalie, squeezing the servant girl tight. “Easy there, blondie!” Natalie said, laughing as they parted. “Y’all nearly crushed me to death!”

“Thanks for everything,” Ellie said, staring into the sallow eyes of the blood servant. “You’ve done so much for us this last day, I really can’t thank you enough.”

“Thank me when you get to Skarvast!” Natalie shouted, another explosion ripping through the night somewhere behind them. “This isn’t goodbye girl, now go!”

Nodding, Ellie turned on her feet and sprinted back across the garage to a less than pleased Wraith. She climbed onto the bike, nestling her front against his back. “Finished?” He said over his shoulder while she put her helmet on. “I don’t know if you noticed, but the world is catching on fire. We ain’t really got the time for heartfelt goodbyes.”

“I’m done,” she said and wrapped her arms around the vampire’s midriff, lacing her fingers tightly. Dust sprinkled down from the roof as another explosion shook the earth. “Go!” she shouted in angst. “Go!”

Wraith turned his wrist on the accelerator, making the engine scream loud and long. “Hold on darling,” he said as he kicked the bike into gear. “I like to go fast.”

They roared out of the garage into the explosion sprinkled night, tearing along the north canyon pass until they were out onto the open road a minute later. Fire curtained the horizon behind them, snow-capped mountains tipped the horizon ahead. The engine thundered underneath, howling as it flashed across the dark track leading to the north.

Ellie tightened her grip around Wraith’s midriff, closing her eyes as she held on as tight as she could. Her attention flickered to a pool of warmth gathering at the side of her torso. She patted a hand over the dark wet and held the blood-stained fingers up to the moonlight. That Circle vampire must have cut her bad when he tried to take her.

Just hold on, her mind raced as she wrapped her arms tight around Wraith again. It was too soon to stop now, and making Wraith pull over would only mean getting caught. It’s just a scratch, she told herself. It’s nothing. It was nothing. That was all. Nothing to worry about. No sense in causing any further trouble.

Ellie closed her eyes, pressing the side of her head against Wraith’s back, clenching her jaw over and over again to stop herself from passing out. Dark drops of blood splattered onto the black road, leaving a trail behind the speeding bike.

The night was just beginning.