Neither Tyler nor Elina answered. Their silence was heavy, almost deliberate, while the commander's eyes narrowed, and Veronica's gaze sharpened into suspicion.
"Sir," Veronica finally spoke, her tone clipped. "Why didn't you stop Her Majesty from leaving?"
The commander's jaw tightened. "Because I have no power over her," he said coldly. "She isn't a child to leash or order around. She disappeared once without a word—she can vanish again for all I care. Now get in the damn carriage."
Veronica flinched slightly but obeyed.
"To where?" Tayler muttered.
The commander's voice cut through the air like a blade. "To the cemetery. I want to see what the hell happened there."
No one argued.
Leo moved quietly, slipping the worn paper his grandmother had pressed into his hand into his inner pocket. His motion was smooth, practiced—almost invisible. Kyle didn't notice. Tyler did. He met Leo's eyes for the briefest moment, but said nothing.
Kyle drove like a man who had long stopped caring whether he lived or died. he lit one cigarette after another, smoke swirling around him like a curse. The night seemed to pull them in, deeper and darker, until the iron gates of the cemetery emerged from the fog.
They entered without hesitation—except for Leo, Tyler, and Elina. The air here was heavier, colder, as if something still lingered beneath the soil.
Their steps slowed as they reached the far end of the graveyard.
"There," Tyler said, pointing toward a solitary mound. "Same as before. No name. There's always one grave too many."
The commander crouched, his gloved fingers tracing the rough, unmarked stone. The earth around it was still damp—recently disturbed.
"Strange," he muttered, his voice low and edged with unease. "For a cursed cemetery, you'd think mistakes don't happen by accident."
The wind stirred then, carrying with it the faint scent of iron and decay. Something shifted beneath the ground. And for a moment—just a moment—Leo thought he heard something breathing.
They all stood around the grave, curiosity flickering in their eyes like moths to flame. But Leo—Leo was frozen. His breath caught in his throat.
A woman sat upon the nameless grave. Pale. Still. Watching him.
Her gaze was heavy with sorrow, as if centuries of grief clung to her like chains. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft, almost trembling.
"You're Jericho… aren't you?"
"Jericho?" Leo's voice cracked. "No… I'm not. Wait—who are you?"
The others turned sharply toward him, confusion etched on every face. He wasn't looking at them—his eyes were fixed on the grave. Tyler shook him, but Leo didn't react, his mind adrift somewhere between life and nightmare.
The woman rose slowly, her movements fragile yet deliberate. "Then she sent you," she whispered. "You reek of her scent."
She stepped closer, sank to her knees before him, and tears spilled down her ghostly cheeks. "Please… don't let my sister be next. They'll kill her. Please—she's all I have left."
"I don't understand," Leo muttered, voice shaking. "Who are they?"
"The shadows," she said, then turned her head sharply, eyes wide with terror. "You have to hide—now! They'll kill you. You're her only hope—please—hide!"
Then she vanished.
Elina slapped him hard across the face, dragging him back to reality. He caught her wrist, his grip instinctive, rough. "Enough."
He turned toward the commander, breath ragged. "Sir, I don't have time to explain. But We need to hide. Now."
The commander stared into his eyes for a tense moment, then gave a single nod. "I don't know what madness you've dragged us into, boy… but we'll follow your lead—for now."
They slipped behind a row of old burial equipment, crouching low among rusted shovels and cracked coffins. The night stretched thin, every sound amplified—the crunch of dirt, the moan of wind.
Minutes passed. Then the cemetery's rear gate creaked open.
A tall woman stepped through, cloaked in a long black robe that trailed through the mud. Behind her came a man, faceless beneath layers of darkness, dragging a young girl by the arm.
The girl struggled, her feet scraping the ground, but no sound came— like her scream had been stolen from her throat.
They reached the same spot where the bodies had been found before. Without hesitation, the man lifted the girl high into the air—one-handed, as though she weighed nothing.
Leo and Tyler tensed, ready to move, but Karl thrust out a hand, silencing them with a glare.
The ground shuddered. A hole split open at the woman's feet with a single strike of the girl's heel. The woman's hand darkened—skin turning pitch-black as if corruption itself flowed through her veins. She reached into the girl's chest, her arm phasing through flesh like smoke—and pulled out a still-beating heart.
No blood spilled. No wound remained until she took it out.
The woman held the heart tenderly, watching it twitch with its final pulse before placing it into a glass jar. The girl's legs twitched once, twice—then went still forever.
The air turned heavy with the scent of death.
The man tossed the girl's body into the pit with careless strength, as if discarding a broken toy. Dirt scattered. He turned his head slightly toward their direction, a slow, deliberate motion.
"Hmm…" His voice slithered through the night. "Seems we've got a few rats scurrying about tonight." He inhaled deeply, the sound feral. "And… the scent of two virgins, no less."
Kyle and Veronica's eyes snapped toward Leo, Tyler, and Elina. The commander's tone dropped low, grim.
"Whatever happens, you stay here. Don't move. You're not ready to face what's out there. Understood?"
Before any of them could argue, Kyle unsheathed his sword—the steel glinting faintly under the moonlight—while Veronica drew her twin daggers with a soft metallic whisper. The two of them moved forward, their steps calm, precise, lethal.
From the shadows ahead came a voice dripping with venomous delight.
"Well, well… it's been a long time, hasn't it, you wretched whore?" Veronika said, then she continued "I see you've found yourself some new company." Her gaze flicked to the man beside her.
The woman in black smiled, her lips stained crimson from the blood that had dripped from the heart she'd just torn free, She grinned wider, dragging her tongue slowly across her fingers to lick off the blood. "Mmm… what an inspiring reunion. Like old times, isn't it, Veronica and you...Commander?" Her tone twisted around the word with mockery and poison.
Kyle froze for half a heartbeat.
From behind their hiding spot, Leo, Tyler, and Elina exchanged stunned glances, whispering in unison—
"Did she just call him her commander?"