Darek was struggling, toiling away, enduring the grueling labor... of carrying absolutely all of the group's luggage. It was honestly a very heavy and difficult task, though definitely not quite as agonizing as he was currently making it out to be.
"I still can't believe you'd do something like this to me, Mari," he groaned, glaring up at the rest of the party ahead of him.
As per usual, they were all riding comfortably atop the ethereal shadow horses woven by the black knight, leaving Darek as the sole member of the group forced to travel on foot.
"I did say we'd put you in debt, right, Uncle Darek? And this is it. This is your debt for coming back to help us so late," Mari replied smugly from her shared saddle with Clarissa. The now nine-year-old girl looked incredibly proud of her idea, practically beaming with a profound sense of accomplishment.
"Yeah, you did great, Mari! I couldn't have come up with something like that!" Lennix chimed in, eager to praise her brilliance.
Mari slowly turned to look at him, a deep, unmistakable pity filling her eyes. "Uncle Lennix... that's not a good thing," she replied, instantly shutting the dumb vampire down.
Lennix visibly sagged in defeat, slumping forward onto the dark mane of his shadow mount.
"Still, I agree with him. It was clever," the black knight remarked from the front of the formation. "When you said that at first, I was very confused, but making him an indentured servant as payback for what he did is both clever and funny." Even entirely concealed beneath his heavy metal helmet, the knight's amused smile could practically be felt in the air.
"You're just saying that to hide the fact that, similar to Master Lennix, you couldn't figure out something like Mari did either," Clarissa stated to the black knight in her usual, perfectly emotionless manner.
"You didn't have to point it out..." the black knight muttered bitterly under his breath.
"Hey! I'm here as well! The actual victim of her clever plan!" Darek shouted, aggressively shifting the massive pile of bags on his tired back. "Talk to me as well, rather than just talking about me!"
Lennix casually glanced back over his shoulder. "I mean, we've been mocking you for a month at this point. It's kind of getting old, you know?"
Darek's right eye twitched violently. "You say that like you're not mocking me right now," he grumbled, letting out a deep, exhausted sigh.
"Don't worry, Darek. You'll be free after an hour or so," the black knight called out, turning his helmeted head slightly to address the struggling man. Looking back out toward the looming horizon, his tone shifted to something far more serious. "After all, we're close to reaching my Coven."
Hearing that announcement, Karin twitched in her saddle. The group hadn't bothered to tie her up this time, mostly because there was absolutely no point. It wasn't like she could successfully escape or cause any real harm, especially with Darek walking right beside them.
"So, just an hour left, huh?" she muttered under her breath, speaking so quietly that only Lennix's sensitive vampire hearing could pick it up.
"Yay! That means just one more hour until Mommy is back to normal!" Mari beamed. The young girl was still blissfully unaware of the dark reality regarding her mother. At her innocent words, the mood of the entire group instantly dampened—except for Darek, who didn't fully know the complete backstory yet.
Seizing the opportunity, Lennix nudged his shadow horse closer to the walking man. Leaning down from his saddle, he whispered urgently into Darek's ear, "Use that magic of yours. The one that lets us talk with our minds."
Darek looked up, his brow furrowing in confusion. "What? Why?" he asked aloud.
"Just do it," Lennix urged quietly.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Darek closed his eyes for a brief moment and cast the spell. *Alright, done. Now what?* his voice echoed clearly inside Lennix's head.
The vampire let out a deep, internal sigh of relief. *Is there any way you can... fix Karin?* he asked through the mental link.
Darek shifted his heavy pack, glancing up. *What do you mean?*
Lennix cast a solemn look toward Karin's back. *We told you a little bit about who and what Karin is, right?* he began. Darek gave a subtle nod. *Well... she doesn't hate Mari because my sister's blood in her system is driving her insane. She just... hates her all on her own. And, well, Mari doesn't know that. She genuinely thinks Karin is just affected by a sickness, that she can be magically cured at the Coven. But obviously, that's not the case. So... is there anything you can do that can actually, I don't know, make her love her daughter?*
Finally understanding exactly what the vampire was asking of him, Darek let out another, much heavier sigh. *I can do that. I have some things that would work,* he answered bluntly.
Lennix's eyes went wide, clearly not expecting such a straightforward, positive answer. *Really?* he asked eagerly.
Darek nodded grimly, preparing to deliver the harsh reality of his magic. *Yes, I do. But Lennix, this isn't just some simple charm spell. If the hatred for her daughter runs that deep, I would have to entirely manipulate her memories. I'd have to erase certain parts of her life, change others, and forcefully implant fake memories that don't even exist. If I do that, she wouldn't be Karin anymore. She wouldn't truly be Mari's mother. She would just be a hollow meat puppet programmed to act like an affectionate parent. So think about that for a bit before you officially ask me to do it.*
Without waiting for a response, Darek abruptly cut the mental connection and stepped away, leaving the completely stunned vampire to grapple in silence with whether or not he really wanted to cross that line.