Jade descended the stairs slowly, deliberately. His purple suit with blue accents gleamed in the emergency lighting, pristine despite the chaos around them. In his left hand, residual blue flames flickered and died. His right hand held something that looked like a combination of a gun and a scientific calculator—all chrome and glowing circuits.
"Kínitos. Monti." His voice was measured, calm, but underneath it was steel. "When I sent you on a *reconnaissance* mission, I don't recall authorizing you to blow up an entire building."
"Jade, we can explain—" Kínitos started.
"Can you?" Jade's eyes swept over the destroyed stairwell, the unconscious Marco, the scorch marks from Widow's attack. "Because from where I'm standing, you've compromised our entire operation, alerted every major player in the district to our presence, and somehow acquired the Saint Patro heir in the process."
Monti wiped blood from his nose, his suit still flickering weakly. "It's not like we planned—"
A sound echoed from below. Not footsteps.
*Scraping*. Like bone on concrete.
Jade's expression shifted instantly from anger to alertness. He raised the device in his right hand, pressing something on the side. It hummed to life, blue light tracing along strange symbols etched into the metal.
"How many floors down?" he asked quietly.
"Third floor, maybe second," Kínitos said, activating his suit fully despite his exhaustion. "It's the man in white. He controls the dead, makes them—"
"I know what he does." Jade's jaw tightened. "And if he's here, we need to move. *Now*."
The scraping got louder. Closer.
And then they heard voices. Multiple voices. But wrong. Too human. Too *aware*.
Not the mindless groaning of zombies.
These things could *talk*.
"I can smell them," a voice hissed from below. Male. Hungry. "Fresh blood. Still warm."
"Three floors up," another voice answered. Female. Amused. "And one of them is *bleeding*."
Jade cursed under his breath. "He's evolved them. They're not zombies anymore."
"Then what are they?" Monti asked, though part of him already knew the answer.
The first figure appeared on the landing below.
It looked human. Almost. Pale skin, dark eyes, moving with fluid grace instead of that jerky zombie shuffle. But its mouth was wrong—too wide when it smiled, revealing fangs that were definitely not human.
*Vampires*.
Three more appeared behind it. All of them had been Saint Patro guards—their tactical gear still visible, bloodstained and torn. But they moved with predatory purpose now, heads tilted, nostrils flaring as they scented the air.
"Oh," one of them said, locking eyes with Kínitos. "Purple suit. You're the one who killed so many of us upstairs."
"Guilty," Kínitos said, trying to keep his voice steady.
The vampire's smile widened. "Good. That means you'll taste better."
They charged.
Jade raised his device and fired.
Not bullets. Not energy blasts. Something *else*—a rippling distortion in space itself. The leading vampire hit it and simply *stopped*, frozen mid-leap like it had been caught in invisible amber.
"Temporal stasis," Jade said, already adjusting settings on the device. "Won't hold them long."
The other three vampires split up, moving with inhuman speed. One went high, leaping up the wall. Another stayed low, coming in fast. The third circled around, trying to flank.
Monti's purple smoke erupted again, but weaker this time. His crocodile manifestations appeared—smaller, translucent, barely solid.
The vampire going low laughed. "Is that supposed to scare us?"
It lunged through the smoke manifestation, completely ignoring it—
And screamed.
The invisible crocodile jaws had clamped down on its leg, tearing through flesh. Real damage. Real pain.
"Still got teeth," Monti muttered, forcing more smoke out despite his exhaustion.
Kínitos activated his speed and blurred toward the vampire on the wall. His fist connected with its jaw, the impact enhanced by his momentum. The vampire flew backward, crashing through the wall into whatever room lay beyond.
The third vampire was on Jade before anyone could react.
Jade didn't panic. He pressed a button on his wrist, and a shimmering energy shield materialized in front of him—hexagonal panels of light interlocking like a honeycomb. The vampire's claws scraped against it, unable to penetrate.
"Interesting," the vampire hissed. "Gadgets. How… quaint."
Jade's other hand came up, fingers spread. Blue flames erupted from his palm—not a fireball like before, just a concentrated stream of fire that caught the vampire full in the face.
It shrieked and staggered back, skin bubbling and charring.
The vampire Kínitos had punched through the wall was already getting back up. The one caught by Monti's manifestation was dragging itself forward despite the massive wound in its leg.
And the one frozen in temporal stasis was starting to *move*, pushing through the effect through sheer force of will.
"They're adapting," Jade said grimly. "We need to—"
More scraping echoed from below.
But this wasn't footsteps. This was different.
*Bones*.
A skeleton appeared on the landing—actual bones held together by that same purple energy that animated everything the man in white created. No flesh. No organs. Just bone and malice.
Then another. And another.
Five skeletons. Climbing the stairs with mechanical precision.
Behind them, more vampires. At least a dozen.
And at the back of the group, walking calmly, unhurried—
The man in white. Two Fangs.
His pristine white suit still unmarked. His featureless mask reflecting the emergency lights.
He stopped on the landing two floors below, surveying the scene.
"Jade," he said, his voice carrying easily despite the distance. "I was hoping I'd find you here."
Jade's expression went cold. "Two Fangs."
"It's been too long." The man in white gestured to his army of vampires and skeletons. "I've made some improvements since our last encounter. What do you think?"
"I think you're still hiding behind corpses," Jade replied.
Two Fangs chuckled. "And you're still playing with toys." He tilted his head. "But these two…" He gestured to Kínitos and Monti. "They're new. Interesting abilities. Unrefined, but… potential."
"They're none of your concern," Jade said.
"On the contrary." Two Fangs took a step up the stairs. His army moved with him, a wave of undead flesh and bone. "Anyone who can survive my Widow's attention is *very much* my concern."
He raised one gloved hand.
"Kill them. All of them. But bring me the one with the purple suit." He looked directly at Kínitos. "I want to see what makes him tick."
The vampires and skeletons surged forward.
Jade pressed multiple buttons on his device. The temporal stasis expanded, catching three vampires and two skeletons in mid-charge. His other hand came up, blue flames erupting in a wide arc that forced the others to scatter.
"Kínitos, Monti—get Marco out of here!" Jade shouted. "Service exit, east side. There's a vehicle waiting."
"We're not leaving you—" Kínitos started.
"That's an ORDER!" Blue flames intensified around Jade's hand. "You've done enough damage tonight. Get the heir to safety. I'll handle this."
A vampire broke through the flames, claws extended toward Jade's throat. He activated his shield device again, catching the claws on the hexagonal panels, then pressed a button that sent an electric shock through the shield. The vampire convulsed and fell.
Monti grabbed Marco, throwing the unconscious crime lord's son over his shoulder. "Kínitos, come on!"
Kínitos hesitated, watching Jade fight off the advancing horde. His gadgets were impressive—temporal stasis, energy shields, shock systems, all of it working in concert with his limited fire ability.
But there were too many. And Two Fangs hadn't even moved yet.
"GO!" Jade roared, unleashing another blast of blue fire.
Kínitos activated his speed and followed Monti up the stairs, away from the battle, toward the sixth floor where the service exit should be.
Behind them, the sounds of combat intensified. Jade's gadgets humming and crackling. Vampires screaming. Bones clattering against concrete.
And underneath it all, Two Fangs's calm voice:
"Run all you want, Jade. This is only the beginning."