My awareness returned to my physical body. The flesh between my teeth was steadily turning to ash. I let go of it and opened my eyes. The Tower around me was demolished. While it had largely been emptied of its contents before I arrived, the stone of the floor, ceiling, and walls were cracked. Stone chips were scattered across the ground.

  Veda hovered above me, covered by a flickering shield of magic. They had their staff leveled in my direction. Suspicion clouded their eyes.

  “Something wrong, Veda?” I asked as I slowly pulled myself to all four feet and shook myself off. The raven-beast’s flesh dissolved into a heap in front of me. I couldn’t detect the spirits which had infested it before. They had been completely consumed.

  Only a small flickering ember of a soul remained. As I watched, it faded away and vanished.

  “Apologies, Lord Draconis,” Veda said as they lowered their staff. “When confronting malevolent spirits, it is common for people to be possessed themselves.”

  “I’m the only one who gets to make a mess in my own head,” I growled as I shook the grogginess from my body.” That wasn’t exactly true, but Sixth had been a well behaved ‘guest’ thus far. I’d need to see what was bothering her when an opportunity presented itself. At least I knew why she’d not been chatty lately.

  The barrier blocking off the floor above and below us flickered and died. A quick check of my connection to my Cassia confirmed that she was alright, if slightly injured.

  “I have had enough of fighting my way up the inside, Veda,” I growled to the elf. “What are the odds that we get attacked the moment I poke my head out?”

  “Respectfully, Lord Draconis, we’re lucky that the rest of the city isn’t trying to topple the Tower at this very moment,” Veda responded. “The energies exuded from that creature were… very distinct. They would have to be completely blind to ignore them. If I go out first, we should be fine.”

  I turned my head and opened my maw. A blast of force erupted from between my teeth and slammed into a weakened section of the Tower’s wall. The hole that it punched through was large enough for my body to fit through.

  Revealing my presence to the city again was not a choice I’d have preferred to make, but I wasn’t going to sit there and wait for whatever trap Mortimer had cooked up next.

  “Let’s go then. Do you have magic that can let our people know what we’re doing?”

  “Indeed,” Veda said with a bow of their head. “Follow me, Lord Draconis.”

  ○ ○ ○

  “No, we are not knocking the Tower over!” the Castellan roared at the gaggle of long bearded Wizards in front of him. The Speaker kept having to shove the more persistent Senior Wizards back so that they weren’t shouting right in the Castellan’s face.

  “We cannot allow malevolent spirits to infest the city!” one of the Wizards from the Tower of Lahaeb yelled from the back of the crow. “The last time almost doomed us all! Better that we purge this one in fire than risk it again!”

  Estienne de Flèche had dealt with bickering Wizards for many years as a part of his duties. Getting them to agree to anything was a thankless task. He’d never seen them so united in a singular goal, especially to such a hysteric extent. If the Speaker hadn’t made an example out of one Senior Wizard, the rest would be destroying the Tower of Baedain by any means possible.

  “You’re sure that the Witch Hunters can handle this?” the Speaker asked after threatening to turn one particularly persistent Wizard of the Tower of Saqaei into a newt. Estienne grimaced. The speaker was a wily and dangerous old codger, as much as that was hidden by his spectacularly poor eyesight and partial deafness.

  “If they can’t then the city burns,” Estienne replied grimly. “All it will take is one stray shot from these idiots hitting another Tower, and they’ll start killing each other. The Tower of Naerjalid won’t be the only one to go up in smoke.”

  The Speaker turned his immense spectacles towards the Tower in question, halfway across the city. Blue flames crawled across its surface in living streams. Small dots floating through the sky nearby were trying to corral them into cages without much success.

  “Whoever’s idea it was to try and tame Elemental Vipers was an idiot, probably a dead one now,” the Speaker agreed. “But if things don’t change soon-”

  Both the Speaker and Castellan turned to look back at the Tower of Baedain. The former felt a change in the malevolent energy boiling out from the Twelfth floor; the latter was focused on a hole that had just been blown through an outer wall. As they watched, a small figure in a fluttering cloak jumped out of the hole and waved in their direction. It turned and flew towards the top of the Tower.

  A moment later the figure was followed by a ruby scaled dragon. The near riot that had been taking place amongst the Senior Wizards fell into dead silence. All gathered watched as the beast spread its wings and took to the air, soaring upwards after the Witch Hunter. The pair did not seem to be in conflict. A few moments later, they forced their way into the upper floors of the Tower and went out of sight.

  “I have so many questions,” the Speaker said aloud as the clamor started up amongst the Senior Wizards, even louder than before.

  “Good. That feeling? Remember that,” the Castellan replied in exasperation. “That’s how I feel whenever I have to deal with your Towers.”

  Both men had no more time to talk. The riot which had been brewing finally boiled over.

  “Well they didn’t start attacking me, but I think they started attacking each other,” I said once I was ‘safely’ ensconced back inside the Tower.

  Veda nodded in commiseration. “That is the way with Wizards. They are either a bane on their surroundings, or themselves.”

  I glanced around the floor of the Tower. It seemed to be dominated by well organized bookshelves, as opposed to the clutter of the lower floors. There was enough space between each shelf for me to prowl slowly forward. If I had my bearings correct, we were either on the twenty-second or twenty-third floor.

  “Why does your ‘Empire’ tolerate these pests?” I growled at Veda while I kept an eye out for any threats. None were immediately obvious. We seemed to be alone on this floor. A quick check to Cassia over our connection indicated that her group was making its way steadily upwards.

  “While I cannot comment on the ‘wisdom’ of my forebearers,” Veda replied as they stalked close to my side, staff in hand. “There will always be those who seek to grasp power beyond what they were born with. At least here, they are generally kept in one place where those like myself can keep an eye on them.”

  My eyes landed on a prone shape as I exited the space between the bookstacks. It was a set of Wizard’s robes along with a pointy hat, laid in a heap on the floor. I advanced carefully. No one else was present according to my sense, but those had proved fallible lately.

  A single claw on my front foot tugged at the robes to reveal what lay inside. Veda’s hands tightened on their staff. The contents were more than a little unpleasant to look at. A vaguely human shaped husk was all that remained. Whoever this had been, they looked like they had been dried out and consumed from the inside.

  “That is… bad, yes?” I asked Veda as I dropped the robe. A strong urge to clean myself rose up, but there was absolutely no way I was putting that claw anywhere near my mouth. While I had seen plenty of filth, blood, and guts in my time, something about this corpse was unsettling in a fashion I didn’t quite understand.

  “Yes, that’s very bad.” Veda flicked their staff. A single ember of flame curled out from its tip and settled onto the remains. It only took a couple of moments for it to burn away. The flames spread faster than the driest of kindling, burning it all to ash quicker than my eye could follow.

  “Was this caused by one of those… evil spirits?” My head turned as I looked for any tell tale sign of black smoke flitting around the room. Was that how I would have ended up if I had let the spirits overcome me? The thought of a dried out pile of ruby scales, found by my Cassia, sent a chill up my spine.

  “While that is possible, Lord Draconis, I think we are dealing with something altogether more insidious," Veda replied. “You are perhaps better equipped than most, to understand this kind of threat. I already told you that my order had been keeping an eye on this Tower in particular for a long time. Numerous disappearances have occurred among people associated with it.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Yes, you said as much.” I was half listening. More of my attention was focused on my connection to Cassia. She was confused. There was a sudden lack of threat blocking the stairs. She and her group were rapidly making their way upwards. “I had wondered if there wouldn’t be some kind of signs you could follow.”

  Vitae was difficult to fully suppress. The connection between an object and its innate Vitae was nearly impossible to sever. Even with Visk’s new powers, the effect was better described as ‘extremely difficult to locate’ as opposed to ‘completely gone’. The only exception I knew was when I consumed Vitae and converted it into my own power…

  “You are saying another dragon is involved?” I asked, turning my eyes to focus on Veda. For the first time, they seemed uncomfortable. While their ears weren’t as mobile as Visk’s, they did droop a bit under my scrutiny. “You know more than you are admitting, Veda. Do not try my patience.”

  “Not… exactly, Lord Draconis,” Veda said quietly. “But there are… creatures out in the world, who are capable of consuming life force. Wizards once studied such creatures, in the hope that they could… repurpose such an effect to increase their own power. Entire Towers were devoted to that field of study.”

  Veda glanced over towards one of the windows looking out across the city. This high up, the window practically screamed when it passed by.

  “Long before my time, there was something called the Red Plague,” the elf explained. “No one is quite certain how it started, but the way it ended was blood running like a river through the streets of Osteriath. Men set upon other men like beasts, seeking to consume them. The Imperial Army was called in to quarantine the city, but it was nearly overwhelmed…”

  “... Only a last minute ‘Agreement’ between the Imperial Army and the Wizard Towers brought together enough power to quell the hordes of blood crazed citizens. The Towers studying the secrets of life force were blamed for the disaster. Each of them was surrounded and cast down by the combined might of the Imperial Army and remaining Towers. Those associated with the destroyed Towers were executed down to the last Apprentice.”

  “The direct study of life force is now called the Banned Discipline,” Veda concluded. “Even people who seek only to heal others are viewed with extreme suspicion. One of my Order’s duties is to hunt down and investigate any rumor of the Banned Discipline being practiced and to exterminate creatures which consume life force.”

  I growled deeply, which made Veda back up a step. “You said that I was ‘better equipped’ to handle this threat,” I hissed. “So you know something about my nature. What is your game, Veda? Do you seek to use me to ‘exterminate’ whatever lies in this Tower, only to stab me in the back?”

  “No Lord Draconis!” Veda replied urgently. “Never! Not after what I’ve seen. You used the Breath of Life on my comrades, for nothing in return. I would never turn my blade against you.” Veda’s hands twisted nervously on their staff. “I… if what I think is infesting this Tower is true, then you may be the only one able to defeat it.”

  “What has made its lair here Veda?” I growled. “You keep dancing around the question. You’re not the first Elf I’ve had to drag a secret out of. Don’t make me force the issue.”

  Veda gave me a strange look, their short pointed ears twitching softly.

  “If my suspicions are correct, I think it is something the locals would call a Vampyr,” Veda said hesitantly. “I wasn’t sure but the single minded devotion with which every Wizard in this Tower is defending it is… highly unusual. At least a couple ought to have turned on their fellows, especially once you fought those caged spirits…”

  “... I think a Vampyr has made this Tower its nest, and all the souls within its Thralls.”

  “Godsdamnit, just how far up did the Boss go?” Visk grumbled as the group climbed up the stairs. Despite the elf’s best efforts to keep up with the pace, they were getting worn out. Even Sir Kenneth in his newly requisitioned half-plate was doing better.

  “Aren’t elves supposed to be good at climbing?” Sir Kenneth griped back at Visk. He had taken the lead as the most armored person in the group. The Witch Hunter known as Mamaet came next, followed by Cassia. Visk brought up the rear.

  “That’s another kind of Elf, lard for brains.” Visk leaned against the wall of the spiral staircase, breathing heavily. Their long ears twitched in irritation as they tried to catch their breath. “I’m built for sneaking around, not climbing a thousand bloody stairs in one go!”

  “Will both of you shut it?!” Cassia interjected. “I’m trying to concentrate here. It's hard enough trying to figure out what Sanguine is saying without you two nattering on like an old married couple.” Cassia was greatly confused by the signals Sanguine was giving her. He didn’t seem to be fighting at the moment, but there was some other kind of threat that he was urgently trying to make her aware of over the connection. The best she could figure out was that he wanted her to join something back together.

  “I think he wants us to meet up with the other Witch Hunters?” Cassia said after a couple of moment’s thought. “Do you think we ought to cross the next floor up and join them on their staircase, Hunter Mamaet?”

  Mamaet was the Witch Hunter who had been bleeding from a thousand small cuts, until Sanguine intervened. They didn’t seem to like talking very much. Cassia had only heard them speak a couple of words since Mamaet had joined their group. It took them several long moments to consider Cassia’s question.

  “Yes,” they said in a monotone voice, from beneath their ceramic mask.

  “Alright, Visk. One more effort,” Cassia tried to reassure her friend. If Visk could be called that. Cassia wasn’t entirely sure how to describe their relationship. “I’m sure there’ll be something big and nasty to fight, with what Sanguine is telling me. You won’t have to worry about stairs at all then.”

  “Thanks Cass, that’s really comforting,” Visk said as they pushed off of the wall. “Let’s bloody get this over with, grab the kid, and get out of this stupid Tower.”

  It took another couple of minutes of walking to reach the next floor. When they did, the group emerged onto a floor filled with alchemical experiments. An excessive amount of gurgling test tubes, glass vials, and enchanted stoves were scattered across the space. Some of the arrangements were fantastic constructions of crystal, while others seemed suspiciously simple.

  “I wonder what the other Mortimer would think of this, the Alchemy one,” Visk muttered as they crept between the long rows of tables stacked high with reagents. “I don’t see any exploding rats around here, so he’s probably not been here.”

  “Exploding what?” Cassia said, her confusion evident. “I know you told me you had to show him some of what Edith did back home, but what does that have to do with exploding rats?”

  “Beats me.” Visk paused to squint at their reflection in an oblong glass ampule. The face that stared back at them had short ears and a long face. The elf’s fingers rose up to tease the tip of their ears with a thoughtful expression. “He said it was so people wouldn’t be the ones exploding if they drank the potion.”

  “This entire city is awful,” Sir Kenneth muttered. He had the war axe he’d been given held in his hand, just in case something sprung out at him. The flesh horrors which had swarmed the group on the staircase earlier still had him twitchy. He’d never seen such a gruesome array of clawed scuttling creatures. “I’ll be glad to be rid of this place. The first thing I’m going to do when I get home is bury my head under my covers and not come out again for a fortnight.”

  “Why did you go and say something like that?” Visk griped as they approached the other end of the floor. In front of them, the door to the other staircase was standing slightly ajar. “Whenever people say shite like ‘I’m going home after this’ or ‘I’m marrying my sweetheart after this’, something awful always happens.”

  Mamaet chose that moment to launch a spell right at the door which Visk was about to open. Something which might have once been a Wizard, but now looked like a humanoid leech wearing tattered robes tried to leap out at the same moment. Mamaet’s spell, a tinkling ball of ice, smashed into the creature’s distended many fanged maw and threw it back into the staircase. From inside of the dark space, a multitude of screeches erupted.

  “GODSDAMNIT Kenneth!” Visk screamed as they fled backwards. “I’m never taking you anywhere ever again!”

  The entire group started to flee back towards the first stair case, only to see a swarm of the leech-creatures burst out of the door they’d exited earlier. Behind them, another group of the creatures fought their way past the expanding sheet of ice created by Mamaet’s spell.

  “Jump!” Mamaet yelled as the Witch Hunter turned and sprinted for the hole blasted through the center of the Tower’s floor. Cassia, Visk, and Kenneth followed behind them without question. Potentially falling to their death down the Tower was preferable to the innate sensation of wrongness boiling off of the leech-creatures. An animal instinct in Cassia’s gut screamed at her to flee by any means possible.

  “Daenaetir!” The Witch Hunter waved their staff as they ran. A weak green light surrounded the group’s feet. Cassia remembered Veda casting the spell on the other Witch Hunters earlier. For some reason, Mamaet’s version of the spell seemed to glow less brightly than Veda’s.

  With no other choice, Cassia bunched up her legs and jumped. She sailed upwards through the hole burned by Sanguine’s breath, as graceful as a butterfly. Mamaet and Visk also floated upwards, their light bodies carried aloft by the spell.

  Sir Kenneth, clad in heavy armor, was not so fortunate. The spell on his feed flickered and sputtered as he jumped clumsily. He rose for just a moment before he began to float slowly downwards. One of the leech-creatures, quicker than the rest, launched itself at him. Wicked claws had replaced its human fingers, which latched onto the knight’s armor and tried to drag him downwards.

  A golden lasso flew down from overhead and wrapped itself around Sir Kenneth’s waist. Where it touched the leech-creature, its flesh boiled and burned. The monster gave a horrific shriek as both were bodily yanked back up the Tower through the hole.

  Sanguine’s jaws snapped shut around the leech-creature’s head when Veda hauled both it and the hapless knight up onto their level. He shook it back and forth, savaging it before finally spitting what remained onto the stone floor. Sir Kenneth wretched nearby, as the thing’s foul blood had splattered onto his face in the process.

  “We need to keep moving,” Veda said grimly. “The vampyr-spawn will be here soon.”

  “Hate this place,” Sir Kenneth gasped and spat. “Hate everything about it.”