Callidora stood above them, her eyes glowing with unholy power, her pale skin pulsing with veins of dark light. Behind her, dozens of newborn vampires snarled and clawed at the walls, growing restless.
"Your fight was admirable," she said, voice thick with contempt. "But it ends here."
She lifted a hand, and the army surged. However, they did not reach the heroes. A blinding explosion of fire and gold slammed into the ground between them, scattering the newborns and forcing Callidora to shield her face. Albus, standing tall, his golden aura flaring like a small sun, clenched his teeth.
"You want to kill the light?" he shouted, raising his hand. "Then face all of it."
From his bracelet, a ring of flame erupted, surrounding the group, purifying the ground, vaporizing a half-dozen charging vampires. Blanchette and Lillian stood again, bleeding, but not broken.
"I am not done yet," Blanchette growled, reigniting her sword.
"Neither am I," Lillian said, reloading her six-shooter with Albus's burning bullets.
From the rubble, Adolfo dragged himself out, bones snapping as he pushed his werewolf form to the limit. Blood matted his fur, but his claws gleamed.
"We end this. Now."
With a howl, he launched himself at Callidora, who blocked his swipe with one arm and struck him with the other, sending him tumbling. He landed on all fours and sprang again, forcing her back. At the same time, Cullen reloaded with lightning speed and flanked from the right. Daisy crackled with electricity beside him, launching bolts at the newborns to clear a path. Leo, limping but alive, fired from afar, drawing Callidora's attention for just a moment. That was enough.
Blanchette came in from behind and slashed across her back, flame trailing her blade. Callidora screamed, truly screamed, as smoke sizzled from the wound.
"You are not so immune to fire now, are you?" Blanchette shouted.
Callidora spun and knocked her down, but Lillian leapt over Blanchette and fired a round straight into Callidora's shoulder, igniting her arm. Callidora vanished and reappeared at a distance away from where she was standing. She staggered to her knees, gasping. Her skin was blackened in places now, her energy faltering. Albus stepped forward.
"You have no idea what it's like to be hunted, hated, feared! I wanted to give my kind a future!" Callidora screamed.
"You are a liar, Callidora. You enjoy evil. You enjoy power. You enjoy killing," Cullen replied.
"You gave your kind a death sentence," Albus said. "And now you will face yours."
He raised his hands. Callidora stops him by vanishing and reappearing behind him and slashing his back. The team— Adolfo, Blanchette, Cullen, Daisy, Leo, and Lillian— moved as one. Adolfo tackled Callidora first, pinning her down as she slashed at him. Her claws carved deep lines into his chest, but he held firm. Callidora turned into a bat to escape his grasp, but she turned back when Daisy electrified her with a bolt. Lillian approached and emptied her last six burning rounds into her legs, dropping her entirely. Callidora tries to escape again and fly, but perfect shot from Cullen brings her down and turns her back. Blanchette ran, leapt, and drove her fire-sword through Callidora's chest, piercing her heart. Callidora screamed like a dying star.
She turned her head, smoke rising from her body, as she locked eyes with Albus, who stood above her, spear of gold flame in hand.
"No, you… can't kill me…" she rasped. "I cannot die…"
"No," Albus whispered. "You are a nightmare, and all nightmares end."
He plunged the spear through her throat. Her scream became a wail of disintegrating light as her body combusted in radiant fire. The darkness tore from her limbs, her face, her heart, and then she was nothing more than ash in the air, carried by the wind of her own undoing. A long silence followed. The remaining newborns, robbed of their queen, turned to dust or collapsed. It was over.
They had won. Adolfo collapsed to one knee as he turned back into human form. Blanchette dropped her sword, hands trembling. Cullen sank down beside Daisy, resting his hand on her shoulder. Lillian looked to the others, her eyes shadowed with firelight. And Albus, his light fading, stood over the ashes of their greatest enemy.
The battlefield was eerily quiet now. Smoke still drifted through the ruined lab, curling around the shattered glass and scorched stone. The bodies of vampire spawn lay crumpled and lifeless, smoldering under the golden embers left behind by Albus's final attack. The air smelled of burnt blood and sweat. Albus stood still for a moment, his golden aura flickering dimly around him like a dying star. He exhaled… and collapsed.
"Albus!" Blanchette shouted, rushing to catch him before he hit the ground, but Cullen got there first.
"I got him," Cullen said, kneeling beside his unconscious friend.
He placed two fingers at Albus's neck and nodded.
"His pulse is steady. Probably just burned himself out with all that power."
He glanced at the others, then hoisted Albus over his shoulder with practiced strength.
"I will carry him home."
Across the room, Leo sat slumped, breathing heavily. His body sparked with the occasional pulse of failing energy from his cybernetic suit. His pistol had shattered during the fight, and one of his wheels had come loose, leaving him partially immobile. From the shadows, Daisy stepped forward. Her coat was singed at the edges, her hair frazzled with residual electricity, but her eyes were gentle, locked on Leo. She knelt beside him.
"You look like hell," she said softly.
Leo grinned weakly.
"Looking like hell is a lot better than being in it. I think Ilya is in it."
Daisy chuckled. Then her smile faded into something more vulnerable as she touched his shoulder.
"Thank you for not killing Cullen," she said.
"I thought I would," Leo replied, voice hoarse. "But… then you told me to stop. And I listened."
"Why?"
He leaned his head back, looking up at the smoke-stained ceiling.
"Because you remembered who Cullen was. And I remembered who you were. Daisy… we were twisted into something we never asked to be. But when I saw you again, I remembered the part of me that was not built in a lab."
Daisy blinked, her ears twitching faintly. "You remembered… the real you?"
"Yeah. The part that loved you," he whispered.
She looked away for a moment, biting back emotion. Then, slowly, she reached out and touched his face, tracing the edge of his mask.
"I never stopped hoping to see you again."
Leo's breathing hitched. Daisy offered her arm, helping him stand. He winced as he leaned into her, one arm slung around her shoulders, limping heavily.
"You always were the strong one," he muttered.
"You always were the fast one," she smirked, glancing at his busted wheel.
As they moved slowly toward the others, still supporting each other, Leo whispered, "Do you think we could… start over in these new.. bodies?"
Daisy nodded, leaning her head briefly against his.
"Yeah. I think we already did."
Around them, the rest of the team gathered what little strength they had left. Cullen still carried Albus. Blanchette, still holding her fire-scorched sword, took one last glance at the pile of ashes where Callidora had fallen. Lillian stood beside her, adjusting her hat.
"Reckon we have got a long walk ahead," the cowgirl said.
Blanchette exhaled.
"Yeah. But at least now, we know the road is not cursed by her."
They began the long journey back, wounded, weary, but no longer haunted by the image of a vampire.
As the group made their way through the scarred forest path, what was left of Wayland Woods. The sun hung low, bathing the trees in amber gold. Each of them walked at their own pace, nursing wounds and heavy thoughts. Adolfo kept a few steps behind the others. His ears picked up a soft sound that didn't belong to the birds or the crunch of boots. He slowed his stride and tilted his head. That was the sound of crying.
He turned toward the trees where Blanchette had veered off for a moment, sitting alone on a fallen log just off the path, her fire-scorched sword resting beside her. Her shoulders were trembling. The hand that covered her face was shaking slightly. Adolfo approached quietly, stepping over a root.
"Hey," he said gently, his voice low. "Mind if I sit?"
Blanchette did not answer. She just gave a weak nod, still looking away. Adolfo lowered himself beside her. For a few moments, he said nothing. Let the silence be what it needed to be. Finally, she spoke, barely above a whisper.
"I thought I would feel something else… anything else."
He looked over at her, brow furrowed.
"I thought," she continued, "when I finally got my revenge… when she was gone, I would feel whole again. Like the hole inside me would close up."
She turned her face, tear-streaked, toward him.
"But it did not. I still feel empty."
Adolfo nodded slowly, then glanced at the ground.
"Yeah… I know the feeling."
"You do?" she asked, voice soft and small.
He looked up at the golden sunlight piercing through the trees.
"Well, I always felt empty because I never had a father… Even now, I spent years blaming myself. For things I could not control. For people I lost. For who I became." He paused. "And when we killed her… I thought I would finally stop hearing the screaming of my victims in my head. Thought maybe I would feel human again."
He looked back at her.
"But that part does not come easy. The part where you heal."
Blanchette sniffed.
"So what do we do now?"
He reached over and gently took her hand. His was rough, calloused, marked by scars.
"You keep walking. Even if you do not know where the path leads."
She squeezed his hand slightly.
"I do not know which path to take. I feel like such a hypocrite. I told you not to hate yourself, and here I am… feeling lost when I got exactly what I wanted."
"Revenge is loud," he said, "but healing is quiet. One is fast… the other takes time."
Blanchette leaned her head on his shoulder, and for the first time since Callidora's death, she let out a slow, steady breath.
"I am tired, Adolfo."
"I know," he whispered. "Me too… and for the record, I really am sorry about what I did to your grandma."
"I told you it is not your fault. Do not blame yourself."
"I am not. I am just sorry."
They sat in silence for a while longer, as the wind carried the scent of ash and pine past them, like memory and hope mingling in the forest. Eventually, the sound of Cullen's voice called from the trees ahead, reminding them that the others were waiting. Adolfo helped her up.
"Come on, let's walk. The new path you should take should be with your family… and we are your new family, all of us," he said.
Blanchette nodded, and they returned to the path, quietly, but not alone.
Inside Albus's house, the wooden floor creaked under every step as the weary group tended to their wounds. Blanchette sat near the hearth, carefully wrapping a bandage around her thigh with Daisy's help. Cullen was slumped in a chair, his pistols dismantled and set aside while Leo helped patch up the side of his neck, the remnants of a vampire's claw still fresh.
Adolfo, however, stood apart from the others, unscathed. Clean skin. No blood. No bruises. The signs of the brutal battle they had survived had vanished from his body the moment he had shifted back from the beast. He leaned against a doorway near the stairs, arms crossed, watching the others with quiet eyes. Lillian sat nearby on a low stool, cradling a mug of cooling tea. Her arm was wrapped, her shoulder bruised, but her spirit remained hard to break. She looked up at him, eyes narrowed, curious.
"You did not get hurt at all, huh?" she said.
He gave a slight shake of his head.
"No."
"Not even a scratch?"
"I mean not this body."
She narrowed her eyes more and took a sip from her mug, then leaned back.
"So let me get this straight. When you turn into that beast and you get damaged, it does not matter because when you turn back, you are fine, and when you turn again into the werewolf, you are also fine. Is that right?"
"I guess that is how it works. I am not sure," Adolfo replied.
Lillian smirked slightly and leaned forward.
"So… if you can just keep shifting back and forth in the middle of a fight… wouldn't that make you basically invincible?"
Adolfo chuckled softly. "In theory, sure. But switching takes a toll. I feel the pain even if my body is clean."
Lillian let out a long breath and leaned her elbow on her knee. "Well then… maybe next time, I will use you as a meat shield."
Adolfo laughed genuinely.
"If I get to stand between you and danger, I will not complain even if it is the last thing I do."
There was a beat of silence. Lillian's smirk softened into something gentler, her sharp eyes flickering with something warmer.
"You know," she said, voice quieter, "back when I first met you, I wanted to kill you."
"I remember," Adolfo said with a grin. "You were very clear about that."
"I have never let anyone walk free who threatened my woods before. Never." she said, tapping her mug absently.
She looked up at him, the light of the nearby lantern catching the copper strands in her pink hair.
"I am glad you were the first one I let walk," she continued.
He leaned down a little, eyes steady on hers.
"Thank you for that."
"No problem."
"You know, I am not just doing this for redemption. I am doing this because… for the first time, I have people I want to protect. For the first time, I really want to.. not die."
Her gaze dropped for a second, then returned to his. The moment stretched between them, quiet, fragile, honest. She stood slowly, coming close enough that her voice dropped to a near whisper.
"You say things like that… and I forget for a second that you have got claws and fangs."
Adolfo smiled.
"You say things like that… and I forget for a second that you once put a gun to my head."
She reached up, brushing her fingers across a clean line on his cheek.
"Guess we are both full of surprises."
The front door creaked in the wind outside. Cullen groaned from across the room. Blanchette let out a tired laugh. But in that moment, Adolfo and Lillian did not notice anyone else.
"Get some rest," she said softly, her hand still on his cheek. "You look like you need it."
"Yeah, I do. We all do." he replied.
She let her hand fall from his cheek, but the warmth of it stayed as she looked out the window toward the new dawn rising over a forest that no longer feared the night.