text: [Themes: horror, grimdark]
  
  You walk into the sacrificial chambers. You walk over to Count Grey, who has a deep wound going through his chest and lies on the ground. You step over the blood-filled grooves of the floor, walking over to him. You drop to a knee, checking his pulse, before mentally hitting yourself for being so stupid. He's undead. You pull back his eyelids, revealing dull, lifeless black eyes. You quickly pat him down, finding only a curved ebony dagger and some Leu on him, which you take. You gently pat his cold head as a matter of respect, or perhaps more likely to comfort yourself. The terrifying menace who has controlled the region for over a thousand years is dead. He was your master, your mentor and your liege.
  
  "Good fucking riddance. He was a cold, sociopathic cunt," you say aloud, a part of you still terrified to say it, somehow expecting him to wake up and tear out your throat.
  
  You stand, looking around. There's the doorway to the lower floors, where you,,,
  
  A girl charges out from your blind side, holding up a dagger.
  
  > strike her with the butt of your gun
  You swing the butt of your gun, cracking into the side of her face and knocking her to the ground with a grunt. The knife goes clattering, and you dart forward, grabbing the knife and raising your rifle to point at her.
  
  "Who the fuck are you?"
  
  The girl stares at you with anger, blood running down her face from the newly opened cut on her forehead. You recognize her as Dasha, the sacrificial victim from earlier. Huh, apparently she survived. Interesting.
  
  "Hands in the air!" you say, pointing the gun at her head.
  
  She slowly raises her hands, spitting blood and a tooth on the ground. Apparently, you swung harder than you thought.
  
  "Fuck you!" she says.
  
  "You need to listen to me," you say.
  
  The girl swings at your head, but you catch her fist. She spits in your face, which you wince at.
  
  > headbutt her
  You swing your head forward, your forehead smashing into the bridge of her nose and knocking her head back as she yells in pain.
  
  "Listen!" you say loudly, losing your patience. "Did you see those fucking vampires!?"
  
  The girl stares at you, still defiant, but quiet.
  
  "If we want to get out of this, we need to work together. I don't care how much you hate me for doing what I did to you, but we need to."
  
  "You work for the vampires," she says.
  
  "I work for that one," you say, nodding towards Count Grey. "The others killed him, and now they want to kill me... and you. We're on the same side here, understood?"
  
  The girl pauses, before slowly nodding.
  
  "If I let you up, you won't try anything?" you ask.
  
  "Give me my knife," she replies.
  
  "I can't trust you," you say.
  
  "I can't trust you either," she says.
  
  You sigh, before handing the knife back. She grabs it from your, staring at her reflection in the blade for a brief moment, looking as if contemplating attacks, before looking at you.
  
  "What's the plan?" she asks.
  
  "I don't know. We need to... Haygarth," you say. "We need to find him. He should be in the stables. He knows this place better than anyone. He'll have keys, know secret tunnels, know everything."
  
  "Let's go, then," Dasha says.
  
  > head to the stables
  You walk along the hallways towards the stable, your gun clenched tightly in your hands. You consider pushing Dasha ahead of you so anything that attacks has to cut through her first, but that's not the right thing to do. It's better to keep her behind you, in case a creature attacks from behind, and you can fight off whoever attacks from the front with your rifle. You walk past the rows of unlit torches that cover the walls, wishing they were lit. You aim your gun ahead, sweeping the barrel to check the corners for any hidden beasts that could be hidden away there.
  
  "We need to hurry up, h.." Dasha says.
  
  Suddenly, one of the windows several meters above you shatters as the upper half of a body smashes through it. It hits the wall with a wet thud, collapsing to the ground. Dasha screams as you desperately back pedal to avoid it.
  
  "Fuck me!" you say. "The villagers must be having a bad night."
  
  "Oh god," Dasha says.
  
  You hear a terrified scream outside. It sounds female, and young. Very young.
  
  "Help! Help! Mama!" a voice screams from outside.
  
  "We need to help her!" Dasha says, a look of panic flooding through her.
  
  "Do you want to fight the Wulven?" you ask. "I'm not."
  
  You try to appear tough as Dasha stares you down, before looking away. You hear a high-pitched scream, before the crunching of bone and flesh.
  
  "It's done. Let's go," you say.
  
  "The village is down the road! Why the fuck would they bring the villagers here to kill them?" Dasha says.
  
  "Break our morale, or act as bait, maybe. They're intelligent, for abominable beasts. Now, let's move on."
  
  You continue walking forward, reaching a wooden door. You press up against it, waiting. "Here it it."
  
  "This is the door to the stables," you whisper. "You ready?"
  
  "Ready. I'll follow your lead."
  
  > Head in
  You take a deep breath, bashing open the door with your shoulder, raising your rifle. Draven stands there, a sword in his hands and a grin on his face as he stands over a heavily injured Haygarth, who has been stripped naked and is covered in bruising and cuts.
  
  "Don't you know how, freak? I said do it!" Draven shouts.
  
  He swings his blade and smacks Haygarth in the side of the head with the flat of his blade, knocking Haygarth to the floor.
  
  "Dance!" Draven laughs, before his eyes flicker to you. "Look who it is! One of Grey's ghouls and... I've no fucking idea who you are, but you look like a bleeder!"
  
  Haygarth lets out a terrified yell as you aim your rifle, as Draven lets out a roar, sprinting towards you with insane speed, even faster than you've seen Count Grey sprint.
  
  > shoot Draven
  You fire your rifle, the bullet slamming into Draven, although even with all the stopping power that causes the gun to buck violently in your hands, but Draven doesn't even slow down. You grab the rifle to pull back and release the shell, before Draven's upon you. He thrusts his sword forward, running it through your chest. Your heart is destroyed as you yell in pain, before his head darts forward and his fangs sink into your neck.