Chapter XLIX

  Jerome stands looking at Nero, who is staring at the tunnel where he had just incinerated Mercy.

  "Fantastic. I was worried about the beams holding up. And now, when it'd be useful for them to give in, they hold strong." The mage mutters while shaking his head.

  "No, it can’t be. Murderer!" Sab cries, still lying on the ground after his confrontation with Nero. Seres, who had released Jerome seeing he wasn’t resisting, begins approaching Sab.

  "Sab, isn’t it?" the young man asks. Not receiving any response, he continues speaking. "You saw the same thing we did. She was a vampire…"

  "Lies!" Sab excims but without much conviction. Jerome understands what he's feeling. He also saw it, but he didn’t want to believe it. How could she have been a vampire?

  "She even jumped and clung to the ceiling. A normal human couldn’t do that." Seres’s voice is careful and understanding as he states the obvious. Jerome and, he suspects Sab as well, understand what he’s saying. It’s simply that the image they had of her doesn’t match this reality. So, reality must be wrong.

  “It doesn’t matter now. If they won’t cooperate, tie them up and put them on the mule,” Nero’s cold voice cuts in. He continued to study the tunnel, illuminated by the fmes his spell had ignited in some of the support beams. “We don’t have time for this crap. They must be coming.”

  "But surely we have a little time for, them to get themselves together. If, as you said, they were under her charm. They can't recover all at once," Seres tries to reason with his lider, approaching him slightly.

  Jerome, in turn, tches onto what he heard. Her charm? Could they have been under some magical influence? Unfortunately, he knows little about vampires.

  But Nero doesn’t give him time to think, turning to Seres and muttering irritably, “Blondie!”

  “It’s just that I don’t think they would be much of a threat, given how you dealt with her,” Seres tries to expin, gesturing toward the tunnel where Mercy had perished.

  That thought pains Jerome, but it also leaves him with an odd sense of relief. This is far from the first time he’s seen someone die, yet everything he feels is so confusing.

  Nero brings a hand to his face and, sounding irritated, says, “Assuming the other vampires are on her level. No, they shouldn’t be much of a threat, especially here.” He gestures at the mines around them.

  “They must have expected to use this space to counter the numerical advantage of anyone who came here. But now, that advantage is ours.” Nero’s words appear to be reassuring Seres. But they are spoken in the tone of someone expining something very simple to a fool. “But speaking as someone who’s recently had the misfortune of being hit by two of my fireballs, I don’t recommend being nearby when I cast that spell.”

  Listening to Nero, Jerome looks at the tunnel and remembers the sea of fmes the spell had caused. Instantly, he understands what Nero is trying to expin: if they get caught by this spell, they’ll be burned alive.

  And Jerome isn’t the only one who gets it, as Seres simply nods before moving to help Sab up.

  “Good. We’ll have to go back the way we came,” Nero decres, turning and starting the return path.

  “No. And what about the people we came to save?” Sab shouts, pushing Seres away, who was trying to help him. Sab’s disoriented cry reminds Jerome of their mission: rescuing Mercy’s remaining group. Even if she was a vampire, they still need help.

  Nero blinks at Sab before speaking. “Man, she really messed with your head.” He pauses, shaking his head and sighing. “There was no wolf attack, and the only people needing help here are us. Besides us, there are only hungry vampires in these mines.”

  Nero pauses again, pointing at them as he concludes, “And they’re counting on us as a meal.”

  Sab shakes his head, unable to believe what he’s hearing. Jerome remembers that Nero had often voiced doubts about what exactly happened, but he had never been this explicit.

  "Why didn’t you tell us outright? If you had, we wouldn’t be here now!” Jerome raises his voice slightly as he speaks, feeling frustrated. A few minutes ago, the world seemed different. And now... Mercy is dead. And she was a vampire. And they’re at risk from more vampires.

  It’s all simply too much.

  “Look at him,” Nero says, pointing at Sab. “After what he’s just seen. He’s still like this.”

  Nero looks at Jerome, his face calm, but with a brief moment of hesitation. For a moment, he looks as young as he is and not like a powerful mage who had just easily destroyed a vampire.

  “What would’ve happened if I’d shared my suspicions while I was with your group? How many of you would have rushed to Mercy’s assistance? How many would I have had to kill fighting her?” His voice reveals the frustration he must have been feeling all along, and his words manage to reach Sab, who stops to listen.

  “Since I hadn’t anticipated more vampires, this seemed like the best pn possible—to let her lead me here and confront her in an isoted spot where colteral damage would be minimal. Then I’d return and say she had died in an accident. Sad, but understandable.” Listening, Jerome imagines everything pying out as Nero says, and he has to agree. Everyone would be sad, but no one would have to fight Nero. At worst some would insult him. It was a good pn for everyone.

  “But you know what they say about pns, right?” Once again, Nero’s frustration is audible.

  “Let’s go; we’re wasting time we probably don’t have. We have to get out of these mines and then colpse the entrance.” Nero resumes walking.

  “An interesting pn. But one we’ll have to disagree with,” says a voice that echoes from the other end of the tunnel, with a strange accent, lingering too much on the “r” sounds.

  “Damn. Time’s up,” Jerome hears Nero mutter under his breath.

  “I really wish I remembered vampire powers better here,” he continues murmuring as he turns toward the voice. Jerome does the same, and they see three figures faintly illuminated by the dying fmes at the end of the tunnel.

  “Alright. Keep going. If anyone appears along the way, crush them. Try not to get too far from these idiots. You’re their only protection.” Jerome assumes Nero is speaking to Seres, but it’s the mule that begins to walk. While Seres just nods and starts following it.

  “Come on, we have to go,” says Seres, pulling on Sab to follow him.

  “Wait for me after the next bend. Move a bit ahead. That should be the safest spot for you,” Nero continues instructing them, as they begin following the mule.

  “I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” the voice says.

  Nero mutters something that Jerome doesn’t understand for a moment. Nero seems to be surrounded by a faint light, suggesting he’s casting another spell.

  “Given the state I left this tunnel in, it’s better if they go,” Nero says without raising his voice, but Jerome has no doubt that the figures heard him clearly.

  “So you’re the one who did this!” the voice decres in amused surprise.

  “You know, I really don’t like vampires. They’re so overused, they’ve become ridiculous,” Nero says, sounding amused.

  “Oh, so that’s how he’s handling this!” excims Seres beside Jerome, who then says, “Run!”

  Jerome listens and, considering Seres knows Nero better than he does, follows his advice. Sab follows them as they run alongside the mule and the voice speaks again. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Exactly what I said—I’m rather tired of vampires. Just like the three of you.” The complete and utter boredom in his tone takes Jerome’s breath away; he can only assume the mage is provoking them.

  “Vampires? Where would you get such an idea?” the voice manages to sound almost offended. But now Jerome with better knowledge, can sense the aggression behind the words. And with that, they reach the corner that leads to another tunnel.

  “From Mercy, whom I just incinerated here. I may not remember much about vampires. But I remember you guys don’t like fire all that much.” Nero speaks with a new calmness, as though he’s already prepared for what’s about to happen. But, as he turns the corner, Jerome can’t help but think that nobody likes Nero’s fmes.

  “Let’s go, let’s go,” Seres urges, pulling them along as they keep running.

  At that moment, a new shout echoes from the tunnel they came from. “Bastard.” Jerome can’t help but find it amusing, remembering how many times he’d thought exactly the same of Nero.

  But from this point, it becomes harder to hear what they’re saying. Without any light source, Jerome and the others run a little farther, surrounded by deepening darkness. Until they hear a loud sound behind them.

  Turning back, they see light from where they came from, followed by a warm wind. Jerome immediately realizes what happened: Nero has attacked again.

  They stop in the middle of the tunnel’s darkness when it happens again. Jerome feels uneasy, wondering why Nero would have to cast his spell again, as he can’t imagine anyone or anything surviving a single one of those fireballs.

  In the new silence that follows, Sab hesitantly asks, “Maybe we should go back and see what’s going on?”

  “He told us to wait here,” Seres responds immediately, leaving Jerome at a loss for words. The second spell has left him anxious. Then they hear a loud noise, followed by another gust of wind. This one isn’t warm and carries dust and dirt.

  Jerome has no doubt what happened. The mine tunnel just colpsed. Even if someone was alive there before, they’re certainly not anymore.