Confrontation with Zombies

"Zombies!" exclaimed Thomas.

"Yes! They're coming through the graveyard!" replied Iku.

Only then did she seem to realize the situation she had barged into. Seeing Thomas and Hugo completely naked, their spent members dripping semen, and Cecile between them, completely covered with the stuff, Iku was taken aback for just a second before she turned around and closed the door behind her.

"Sorry to bust on you like this," she said and giggled. "Maybe I should have known..." she said and eyed Hugo.

Cecile blinked furiously, then stood up and wiped her eyes again. "Iku?!" she exclaimed. "How do I look?"

"Like they gave you bath," she said.

"The zombies," said Hugo. "What, how, when?"

"They're moving slow and gathering around the graveyard for now. I got the ship entrance blocked before they could come there. Then I rushed here."

"Why... why now?" bemoaned Thomas.

"They weren't moving around much, but it looked like more of them were digging their way through."

Hugo was already pulling his clothes back on. "Thomas, let's go see." It took Thomas longer to put his clothes on, and as they waited, Iku approached Cecile.

"Mmm... I'd like to clean you up," the ex-Harmonian said. Then she leaned in and kissed Cecile's cum-covered lips, getting the taste of Hugo's and Thomas' sperm into her mouth.

"Ikummph..." said Cecile, then drew her head back. "Your clothes!"

"I was almost covered with zombie slobber already. This is much better." As if to demonstrate her point, she fondled Cecile's amply coated tits, then rubbed the sticky cum from her hands onto her shirt. Then she kissed Cecile again.

"As great as that looks, we gotta go," said Hugo. Iku detached from Cecile, and she followed Hugo out from Thomas' office.

"I'll follow you..." said Cecile, and the movement of her head made a strand of spooge snap from her chin and splash onto her breast. She spread her hands and looked down at the mess. "Soon."

Thomas nodded at her with a smile, and went after Hugo and Iku, with his well-kept sword at the ready.

Hugo and Iku were making their way slowly down the stairs, but the ground floor of the castle was as empty and quiet as before. They continued down into the basement. As they reached the end of the stairs, they could hear faint growling, shuffling and strange moans, almost like voices speaking but distinctly inhuman. Hugo carefully peered into the stone corridor.

"Nothing here," he whispered. "But I can hear them. Stay ready."

They quietly moved closer to the graveyard entrance, and Hugo looked around the corner. As Iku had said, the zombies were just mulling around aimlessly, mostly standing around the graveyard. While they were human-like in shape, it was impossible to tell if they had been actual living humans at any point. Their skin was sickly purple, and their vacant eyes had an eerie red glow in them. Some had open gashes or missing flesh, with what looked like large stains of dried blood, and their clothes were ragged and stained.

"How many?" whispered Iku. Hugo took another quick glance around, then pressed back against the wall.

"Around twenty, at least."

"More than I saw..." she whispered in response. Then suddenly her eyes lit up. "Hugo! Can't you use the rune?!"

"This?" he said, lifting up his hand, where a rune glowed faintly. "This is just a Sunbeam Rune. The Fire Rune... is elsewhere."

Hugo looked around the corner again. "Wait, something's happening," he whispered.

In the middle of the graveyard and the zombies, a dark orb of shadowy energy appeared. In it, there was a human-like figure, and the zombies started turning towards the orb. At first just a black patch, the figure gained features and color, and the graveyard seemed to become darker, as if the light of the surroundings didn't just fall onto the figure, rather than fall into it, to be absorbed and lost as the figure gained definition.

The figure looked like a man, and could have even been a noble. He was meticulously dressed, with a black cape, a lavish green vest, white shirt and dark brown pants. He had grey, slick hair, and what looked like normal facial features, until he came fully visible. His eyes flashed a bright red, and he gave an evil grin that revealed his long, sharp canines.

Hugo withdrew from sight. "It's a vampire!"

"What?" gasped Thomas.

"That Harmonian Nash told me about them during the war. I've never met anyone else who knew so much... uh, anyways, we're in trouble."

"Perfect! This shall be my new abode!"

They all heard the vampire's voice clearly. It sounded almost human, but with a shrill tone.

"Thomas, is there anyone in the castle who could help? Edge?" asked Hugo.

"No, he isn't here."

"Anybody with runes? Or anything else?"

"I'm afraid not..."

"Ah! It seems we have guests!" exclaimed the vampire. In an instant, the creature of the night had appeared before them. They caught a glimpse of him floating in the air, before he landed on his feet. The zombies lazily followed him, lurching from the graveyard into the corridor.

"And one pretty guest, to my pleasure!" he exclaimed, laying his eyes on Iku. The vampire bowed to her. "I am Richard Cervantes, now master of this castle. May I ask your name, fair beauty?"

Iku stared at him coldly.

"Ahem," started Thomas, holding his sword up. "This is Budehuc Castle, and you are the 'guests' here. I am the master of the castle."

"Oh, isn't this convenient?" said Richard, sounding either elated, or mocking. "Now we can handle the transfer without unnecessary complications. I give you my terms: bequeath the title of castle master and the hand of this woman to me, and I will not take them by force."

Iku just shook her head.

"What if we refuse?" said Hugo.

"I shall give you... until my next meal, to consider this offer," said Richard, and flashed an evil grin.

"Your next meal? What does that mean? When is that going to be?" asked Hugo, visibly annoyed.

"If you should dawdle, or decline my offer, you shall see..."

Hugo gritted his teeth. "We won't--" he started, but Thomas grabbed him.

"Thank you, sir Cervantes," he said to the vampire. "We will assess the situation and the necessary actions, and will return with our reply. Be assured, I have nothing but the best interests of the castle and its future master in my heart."

"Good," said Richard, and looked pleased.

Thomas pulled hard on Hugo, and the threesome retreated up the stairs, keeping their eyes on Richard and the zombies.

"What was--" started Hugo when they got to the ground floor, but Thomas immediately put his fingers before his mouth. When Hugo stayed silent, he put his hand on his ear, shook his head, then pointed at the door leading outside. As he did his pantomime, Cecile emerged from his office, clothed and cleaned up. Thomas repeated the gestures to her, and she descended the stairs quietly to follow them outside.

"Alright. You got a plan?" asked Hugo when they were in the yard.

"No plan. Absolutely nothing," replied Thomas. Then he looked at the sun still shining in the sky. "But, vampires... they can't come into the sun, right?"

"Uhh, I'm not so sure about that," said Hugo and scratched the back of his head. "From what I gathered from Nash's stories, it could be a myth, or not apply to all of them, or..."

"Okay. So we might not be safe," said Thomas. "But that goes for all the people still in the castle. We need to protect the civilians!"

"Don't worry, master Thomas!" said Cecile, holding up her spear. "As long as I'm here, I won't let anybody get hurt!"

"I don't want you to get hurt, either," he replied. "You don't have the time to put on your armor now."

"Hugo?" said Iku, contemplative. "You were talking about people with runes. Why?"

"From what Nash told me, we have no real chance against a vampire without rune magic," the Karaya chief replied. "Are you sure we don't have anyone left who's competent with runes?"

"Kathy is still here. And Sebastian. They're not..." said Thomas. "Even Pico, he's no longer with us..." he continued, and looked at the ground regretfully.

"Master Thomas! What do we do?" exclaimed Cecile.

"We get everybody out," he replied.

The group nodded with grim agreement. They knew they were the best fighters remaining at Budehuc now. They could have held off the zombies, or maybe even drive them away, but with a vampire leading them, they had no chance of saving Budehuc Castle itself.

"Yes. We need to help the civilians, townsfolk and visitors, then flee the castle. We can ask for help from Vinay del Zexay, the Great Hollow and Karaya, then come back and--" said Hugo, before Thomas slammed his hand over the Karaya chief's mouth.

"Didn't you learn anything from Caesar?" the castle master said, and removed his hand. "But you're right. Cecile and Iku, take the outer perimeter. Me and Hugo will take the yard and stores. Hope no one was inside the castle..."

"It looked empty to me," said Iku. Cecile nodded. Then they left off into the direction of the farm.

"Hugo, take a look around the yard, then meet me at the inn. Don't battle the zombies or the vampire on your own if you can avoid it."

* * *

After finding a couple of visitors to the castle and advising them to escape, Hugo came to the inn, where he met Thomas. He looked sullen.

"There were some guests here," he said. "No, no. I sent them away," he continued when he saw Hugo's expression. "But they told me that Sebastian went to the larder in the castle some time ago."

"Damn. Should we take the side passage there?"

"It's all we can do. If luck is with us, we find him and get out before anything happens."

As they ran across the yard to the outer perimeter, they also ran into Cecile.

"We got Kathy and everyone else out!" said Cecile, and stopped, panting heavily.

"Sebastian is in the castle!" exclaimed Thomas without stopping.

"Then I'm coming with you!" shouted Cecile back, and ran after them. Iku had been some distance behind Cecile, but she stopped when she saw them approaching.

"Seen Sebastian?" hollered Hugo at her.

"N-no!"

"Then come with us!"

Iku leaned onto her thighs and huffed heavily.

"Hahh... Maybe if I'll... I'll circle around to the front and make sure nobody else comes to the castle..."

"Alright. Be careful!"

Hugo, Thomas and Cecile ran down the path between the castle and the lake, past the empty Trading Post that hadn't seen any business in a long time now, and stopped at the metal door that led to the castle basement, catching their breath. Hugo motioned the other two to come closer, forgetting that they were technically the castle's master and the captain of the guard.

"Zombies we can take," he whispered. 'I hope,' he added in his mind. "But stay sharp. If you see that vampire, it's better to run back outside. Only attack it as last measure."

"Ooh, listen to you! Have you been spending time with Salome?" whispered Cecile, yet managed to sound elated.

"We see occasionally. Now, we go in, and hope Sebastian is somewhere between the larder and here, and we get out. If it starts looking bad, we get out. Ready?"

Thomas and Cecile nodded.

Hugo opened the heavy metal door, and its loud sound clashed against the silence of the yard and the lake. They snuck inside, and passed three empty jail cells, one of which had the bars torn off.

"There's one!" rasped Thomas. It was standing by the larder, staggering from side to side, and seemingly looking at the door. Hugo nodded at them, held his Karaya blade in front of him, and leapt forward.

His blade cut a gash in the zombie's flesh, but no blood came out, and the zombie barely registered it, but as Hugo slashed again, it started turning around, and flailed its arms in an attempt to attack. Hugo dodged easily. Then, from the side, Cecile's spear cut into the side of the zombie, but it only growled in response, then tried to bite Hugo. He dodged again. Thomas came from the other side and slashed at the creature with his sword, and now it trembled slightly.

"Are you sure this helps?" he asked and took a step back.

"Just keep at it!" replied Hugo and leaped backwards.

Cecile thrust her spear into the dead flesh again, and made the monster growl with rage. It gained speed and tried to reach them, but Cecile maneuvered her long spear expertly and kept her distance while cutting its arm. That made the zombie turn its attention towards her, but expose its back to Thomas, and he made a quick two-handed strike, then stepped back again. The zombie growled and approached Cecile, but she stuck the tip of her spear right into its chest. Suddenly, it stopped in its tracks. Hugo leaped forward and plunged his blade into its stomach, and withdrew. The zombie wobbled on its legs, fell to the ground, and with a sudden puff of smoke, its flesh crumbled into dust, leaving only a skeleton dressed in rags behind.

"Is it... gone?" asked Cecile.

"One less of those we have to worry about," said Hugo.

They opened the door to the larder, and it made another loud screech.

"No! No! You are..." shouted Sebastian at them, brandishing a heavy candle leg. "Oh! Master Thomas! Cecile! Hugo! There are zombies--"

"It's good to see you safe," interrupted Thomas. "Now we must leave!"

"Oh, of course," the aging butler said. He picked up a heavy sack from the floor and moved slowly towards the door.

Hugo hadn't seem the portly butler in a while, but he seemed to have picked up even more girth around his waist. "I'll take that," he said and took the sack from Sebastian, then rushed out from the larder and back into the direction from where they came. Seeing their urgency, Sebastian also picked up speed. As Thomas ran by the rotund butler's side, Cecile took a look further down the corridor.

"They're here!" she shouted, seeing some zombies slowly make their way down the stairs onto the lower basement level.

"What about the vampire?!" shouted Hugo back.

"A-HA! I smell duplicity!" came an inhuman voice.

Beyond the jail cells, between Hugo and the door leading out, was the vampire Richard.

"'The vampire...' Such disdain," he said, calm as a grave. Then his features contorted. "My name is Richard Cervantes!"

"Where'd you get that name anyway? Did you rob a grave?" mocked Hugo.

"Impudent whelp!"

With that, Richard launched a fireball at Hugo. He instantly ducked into the jail cell with broken bars, and the fireball hit the wall where he had been, and vanished.

"Stay out!" Hugo shouted.

"No, it is you who shall stay in!" quipped Richard, but Hugo didn't care. Thomas, Sebastian and Cecile had heard him, and weren't coming into the corridor.

"I'll hold him! Get out!" yelled Hugo at them. He touched the Sunbeam Rune on his hand, and hoped it still had some revitalizing power from his time in the autumn sun.

The Karaya chief leapt out of the jail cell, and with his blade by his side, ran towards Richard. He took the creature by surprise, and managed to slash at its arm, yet it didn't feel right. It was as if his blade sliced jelly, and when he leapt back, he was stunned to see that there was no mark of any kind where he had cut. Richard grinned at him gleefully, and extended his arm. Before the vampire had any time to do anything, Hugo rushed at him again, but instead of hitting the creature, he made a feint and lunged past him to the door.

"UNF!" Hugo hit an invicible wall, and fell to the floor. At the same time, Richard floated further into the corridor, turned around and cast three smaller fireballs at him.

Hugo only had time to turn his back to cover himself. "RRRRRGH!" he groaned, as the magical fire made him feel as if he was being burned alive. But he endured, and could feel his strength returning. He reached out with his hand, could still feel the invisible barrier resisting him, and lunged back at the vampire, now cutting as he passed him. His blade met a weird rubbery resistance, and when he turned to look, the vampire was once again unharmed. But now he was back between the vampire and the others.

"Fool! What do you think you can do?" yelled Richard, and thrust out his hand. A sudden force threw Hugo against the wall, and despite the pain, he had to consider Richard's words: what could he do? Would he die here? With regret, he thought back to the True Fire Rune. Perhaps it would have been better to keep it. But a new blaze was lit in his heart.

"You scum!" he bellowed at the vampire. "I will be avenged! You will be put to the grave, where you belong! This castle will not accept you!"

"Raaaargh!" shouted Richard in rage, and sent another fireball at him. Hugo managed to leap out of the way, but he was now beyond the larder door, and close to the stairs. There were a few more skeleton remains of zombies on the floor.

"Hugo!" came Sebastian's voice. "There are too many of them!"

With that, the three others ran from the stairs back to the corridor, close to Hugo.

"I'm sorry! If it wasn't for me, you would have been--" wailed Sebastian.

"Stop it. We're here now. By our own choosing," said Thomas. He looked sweaty, tired and grimy, as did Cecile. He was holding his sword up against the slowly approaching zombies. Then he noticed Richard approaching, and turned to face the vampire. He dropped his sword to the ground and held his hands open as a sign of surrender.

Richard stopped, and surveyed the group of four impatiently. "What is it now? You have already lied to me."

"Wait, please! I will hand over the castle to you, right now!" pleaded Thomas.

"Awfully nice of you. Of course, you will still... DIE!" said Richard, and flashed his teeth.

Just then, they all heard a strange, unearthly sound from the direction of the stairs. It was like a howl, but unlike anything that any living being would make. What light there was in the corridor seemed to escape into the stairs, and explode into a shadowy orb with a crunching noise.

"It's magic!" yelled Hugo.

"Not another vampire!" shouted Thomas hastily.

But as they looked into the stairs, the zombies that had been there had been reduced to dust and skeletons. Then, a man with blonde hair and beard and green clothes suddenly appeared, and cut one remaining zombie with his hatchet. The zombie tumbled down the stairs, and fell into dust and bones.

"Is everyone alright?!" he yelled at them.

"What?!" exclaimed Richard, and suddenly vanished.

"Come this way!" the man guided, and they all rushed up the stairs. There were still a few zombies left, but also a number of their remains. What they hadn't expected to see was Richard, and there was also somebody else. It was a young man clad in a green bandanna, red vest and yellow pants. He held up his right hand, and they could all see the glow of a rune.

A pentagram appeared on the ground around Richard, and from its edges, shadowy light sprung up, encasing the vampire. The ceiling seemed to vanish into the shadows, and from somewhere, spirits of unknown origin descended around Richard. The otherwordly beings summoned rays of light from unseen heavens, bombarding the vampire in a dazzling spectacle.

"How... what... aaaaarrrghhhh!" the vampire howled, and then the light exploded outward from it. Richard's figure darkened, lost features and color, and then he was just a black patch, which vanished as quickly as it had appeared some time before.

The zombies around the graveyard and in the corridor suddenly just collapsed, leaving behind dust and skeletons. Then Kathy came running down the stairs, and Iku followed.

"Didya -huff- didya get 'em?" the cowgirl asked.

"Is it gone, master?" asked the green-clad man. Hugo estimated him to be around the same age as Sebastian, but he was in a much better shape, lanky yet strong. The young man nodded, then breathed heavily and leaned against the wall.