Captain Lion looked at the elementalist now that she returned to normal. He could tell now why she had such an aversion to him when she was little.

"Yeah. Makes sense now. Makes total sense. The caverns are clear. The interior of the palace still needs to cleared, although my gut tells me the vamps are avoiding for some reason. Maybe there's something there they can't touch. Some ancient relic that prevents them from entering." She pondered.

"From the sound of the fighting I hear coming from the palace, Alyson, I don't think the vampires are avoiding ANYTHING right now." Serna replied honestly, "Just listen, you can hear sounds of battle upon the wind."

The gunner took notice of the suns coming up in the east, "Captain. The light has returned."

"And so it has," The Englishman said backing up towards his cabin. He stopped briefly looking at the Shield Maiden, "I must remain here until I appear normal, young lady. I do not want to give the princess any more of a reason to execute me for what I am. She is addled as is and so I must respect her judgement."

"I doubt Princess Cauladra would try and kill you, Captain Lion," Serna explained, "She knows that you are here to help them not to hurt them--regardless of your appearance."

"It matters not, nor will I tempt fate, Serna." He said stepping back out of the sunlight in the safety of his cabin.

"I understand," The Shield Maiden went to the portal, closed the window and drew the curtains to keep the sun out of the room before she turned back to Captain Lion, "Better?"

Alyson cocked her head sideways at Serna for a moment. She had nothing to say to her. There were more serious things on her mind. "I'm off to find the others. Quake you can stay here or come with."

Quake just shrugged, "I'll find your uncle then. I'm sure he'd appreciate some help."

The first of the two suns breached over the horizon in the east. The rays burned away any vamp unable to reach the safety of the shadows. From everywhere, there were screams and hisses turning to ash and dust. The party certainly had stirred up a lot of them.

"That's right!" Irzen smiled with a vicious grin as he heard the screams and hisses on the wind, "Burn, you bloodsuckers, burn!"

********

Alyson arrived in the throne room to see the bronze man and the princess talking to each other. "I bring news. Some good. Some not so good. Quake is heading over to help my uncle and then meet up with Prince Birch and company."

"My heart sees with joy to know that you and your friends are well, Lady Alyson," The Princess looked relieved as she sheathed her sword, "Pray tell! What news do you bring from the battlefront?"

"I'd rather wait until everyone else arrives, your highness." Alyson glanced over to Lazheros.

"As you wish!" The princess forced a smile, "I am eager to hear how the others have fared."

The bronze man came over sensing her troubles were far more serious than all the fighting that had been happening outside. He embraced her quietly holding her to him, ~ Alysiane, what's the matter?~

~ A blood mage..~

********

The elemental found the platinum knight and slayers watching the fireworks. She also noticed the body of the goliath lying on the ground, "Sire. Wasn't that one of the bodyguards in the Dandy Muse?"

Madeous turned to see Quake approaching, "Yes. Which makes me believe the one they were guarding is one of the masters. Come dawn is here and our duty is done for now. Prince Birch and Princess Cauladra will have some peace of mind that their people are safe now."

The platinum knight and Quake headed for the throne room once more while the hunters returned to the airship to regroup and report their findings from the night to Captain Lion.

Quake let out an audible, "Huh," as they entered the throne room which made Lazheros look over and he stepped back from Alyson.

Madeous gave the princess a courtly nod and was glad that things were far better in here than outside. He looked at the bronze man, "We ran into one of two goliaths we saw back at the Dandy Muse."

"And we ran into the other one!" Irzen stormed into the room with a quick bow with Prince Birch not far behind. Once Prince Birch arrived, Princess Cauladra ran to her husband, gave him a hug and checked him out, "Are you hurt, my love? Are you injured?"

"Nay!" Prince Birch responded with pride, "Thanks to Lord Drow I am well. Some of our allies have fallen but our clerics are tending to their wounds."

"We need to finish what we started and we need to finish it now!" Irzen said to the assembled company, "We've got the vampires on their heels and they know it. We took their best shot and we're still standing. NOW is the time for us to take the offensive! NOW is the time for us to press our attack! NOW is the time for us to end them!"

The elementalist turned around and walked right up to the swordsman silently. She cocked her head sideways again and seized him by the throat slamming him to the floor with incredible force.

Madeous slowly walked over to his niece and slowly talked to her, "Alyson? Stop this madness. You need to stop. He's not worth your rage. Let go...please."

All Quake could was hold her breath. Even she had never seen the lady act like this and it scared her. Lazheros knew of blood mages through the stories of adventurers he had met in his travels. None of the stories were good ones. He also new that the elementalist was continually annoyed with the swordsman's decisions of battle.

Slowly Alyson released her vice grip from Irzen's throat and backed away but never taking her eyes off of him. The helm of the red dragon burned brightly as the she spoke, "You're insane strategies for attacking an enemy we know little of will get some of us killed. We DON'T even know where their nest is! While you were staking vamps up here on the surface, Quake, Sir Gonagle and myself ran into a Blood Mage. According to him, they've been expecting us to arrive here in East Port. That they've been here longer than the elves, and from the look on your face, you've never encountered a blood mage before. They make necromancers look like amateurs. They don't just dabble in necromancy, they can manipulate the blood in your veins as if you were a puppet, and three, their magic often turns them into abominations. In other words, they are possessed by demons speaking in multiple voices. The one we encountered down in the cavern, was unlike anything I've ever heard about them. He could literally become one with blood itself and that, Irzen, scares me. It chills me to the bone that he knew exactly who I was and who we all are."