Bats dove from all directions, their wings swooshing wind out of the cellar doors. The air held a symphony of chirps and squeaks as the colony flew out into the cloudy night sky.

Daikon took a tentative step forward as his eyes adjusted to the dark stairwell below. The cold air drafted up from the cellar, reeking of sulfur and blood. He knew the second he crossed the threshold, all chaos would break loose. He gripped his gun, loaded with wooden stakes. He knew they could smell him. And see him. He felt eyes watching his every movement, his heartbeat, and his breath.

He crossed the threshold and immediately the vampires were on him. He pulled the first trigger, a body of cold energy in front of him just in time for the stake to pierce right into its heart. An inhuman screeching sound rippled from the vampires extended teeth, blood and saliva dripping out as it fell to its knees and exploded to dust. Daikon kept moving forward, another vampire leaping down from the ceiling to tackle him.

He rolled on the dirt packed floor, fighting off the vampire as it tried to bite and chomp at his neck. In close quarters he pulled out his wire, wrapping it around the vampires neck and decapitating it in an instant.

Another explosion of dust and he was up off his feet, sprinting down a narrow hallway deeper into the ground. Left and right he saw endless coffins, empty or occupied he didn’t know. He sprinted and turned left down another hallway, seeing the opening to the masters chambers. All he had to do was light it on fire, the rest of the colony would burn with it.

He jumped down into the den and everything seemed to still. Every sound blocked out of the enclosed space like some sort of sound barrier. Daikon turned in a circle, observing the dark room full of pitch black shadows. He steadied his breathing and gripped the small flame torch off his waistband. In the center of the room stood a coffin, slightly ajar. The massive wooden fixture had engravings of ancient letters and incantations.

Daikon raised his arm steady and slow, unsure whether the coffin was occupied or empty. The second his finger closed over the trigger he felt time freeze, like an invisible force hit him solid in the chest freezing him where he stood. In the blink of an eye the coffin burst aflame as a piercing fang punctured his wrist. He whirled his head around to the source. Big red eyes glowered down at him, double rows of teeth glistening with fresh blood and saliva. Daikon turned and pointed the torch at the vampire, watching as it dodged the flames.

Within the next second daikon grabbed the crossbow off his back and shot with one hand, stake aimed where he predicted the vampire would land. At the same moment in his other hand he aimed the torch in the same place.

Two seconds passed and the vampire made a turn right into the trap. Daikon pressed down both triggers and the stake pierced it right through the heart. Its body went up into flames as it emitted an ear bleeding screach. Daikon dropped to his knees and covered his ears as a symphony of hundreds of other vampires howled out in pain as they burned.

Silence. He dropped his hands from his ears after some time, ringing from the pure silence that now blanketed the deep cavernous cellar.

As the ringing took over his ears, he brought his wrist into view and examined the fresh new wound. Two perfect puncture wounds glistened in the dark. If that was the master like he thought, he should be safe. At least that’s all he could hope.