The midnight blue panther met Dianne in a flurry of teeth and claws, giving the vampire no chance to counterattack. But she was fast. With a vicious right hook, she sent Leo reeling, momentarily freeing herself from his relentless assault. Panting furiously, she took stock of her wounds—deep gashes painted her body red, and though her ribs ached, none were broken.
"This is a lot harder than I thought," she muttered, sparing one last glance at the fading sun before raising her golden blade. This was it. The final attack.
Launching off a rock, she seized the panther's throat, slamming him into the ground. But Leo was just as savage. His claws dug into her flesh, and with a brutal twist, he hurled her into a massive tree trunk. The fight raged on, brutal and unrelenting, neither willing to succumb.
From the shadows, Queen Flowyria observed, fingers taut around the string of her bow. "Let's see if this works," she murmured.
Dianne lunged, her blade flashing toward Leo's throat. He barely dodged with a desperate leap—only to realize too late that his evasion had cost him. A yellow silhouette streaked past. Instinct roared. His azure eye flared, narrowly tilting his body to avoid the deadly blade once more. But he wasn't fast enough to stop the heavy kick that sent him crashing.
Dianne licked her cracked lips. "The Azure Eye, huh? How delicious."
Leo growled low, his muscles coiled beneath his dark fur. "Not happening."
They locked gazes—hunter and hunted, predator and prey. Then, Leo did something unexpected. He feinted a pounce—then turned and disappeared into the trees.
Dianne narrowed her eyes. A trap. She was certain. But she wasn't about to let her prey escape.
She tracked his scent through the ruined forest, every step cautious. The silent footfalls of a panther would not escape her. She knew he was lying in wait. But he had no idea she was waiting, too.
Queen Flowyria steadied her breath from her hiding place. "Perfect."
A twig snapped.
Dianne reacted instantly, leaping skyward as four blue slashes tore through the air beneath her. Landing on a branch, she had him. She could see the assassin—
Crack.
A whistle split the air. Dianne barely had time to process it before the force of the arrow sent her sprawling.
She gasped, a wheezing sound escaping her throat. Blood bubbled at her lips, her chest struggling for air. She clutched at the large arrow buried in her lung. "Bloodbane?" she rasped.
But there was no time to recover. The next strike came. A blue line flickered—
And her head tumbled from her shoulders.
Her body remained standing for a moment, blood spurting from the severed neck. The golden amulet around it dangled, held in place by a slender arrow lodged deep in its chain.
Queen Flowyria exhaled, bow slipping from her hands. "I think we did it."
The panther sniffed the headless corpse and purred in confirmation before sitting back on his haunches.
Leo licked his paw. "But just to be sure..."
Then he saw it.
His azure eye flared once more—and his breath caught.
The silhouette before him was still standing. Whole. Unbeheaded.
His normal eye saw a corpse. His Azure Eye saw something else entirely. For the first time, his two visions were at war.
A deep growl rumbled in his throat. "She's deceiving me. That's the only explanation. She's a vampire. She hunts my kind. Of course, she has tricks against the Azure Eye."
But then... why wasn't she moving?
"Are you sure she's not dead?" Flowyria asked, sitting down with an exhausted huff.
An hour passed. Still, Leo did not relax. The queen watched him with growing irritation, a vein twitching at her temple. "I swear, if this is some kind of prank—"
"I must go." Her voice softened. "Langhyr had a family. I have to tell them."
Leo shifted back into his Huntran form, his body still coiled with tension. "Forgive my insensitivity, Your Highness. I will escort you to Elyria, but first..."
Hooo.
He inhaled sharply, his muscles tightening. His right eye snapped shut—
Then exploded open, blood seeping from its edges.
"DIE."
The world turned blue.
The pressure was unbearable. Flowyria choked, her lungs squeezing as the sheer force of Leo's magic crushed the air itself.
And then—
SWISH.
A single sound. The sound of space being cut.
The leaves of the trees shuddered violently, as if a mighty wind had passed. Then, stillness.
Leo panted, dropping to one knee, blood dripping from his eye.
Flowyria trembled. The vampire was gone. There was no body. No blood. Just an eerie void where she once stood.
Only the golden blade remained, lying silently in the dirt.
"The prophecy was true..." the queen whispered.
Leo offered his hand.
She hesitated—then took it.
---
They traveled in silence toward the road where Langhyr had tied their horses.
"You can take Langhyr's horse," Flowyria said, grasping the dun mare's reins.
Leo glanced at the jet-black stallion and shook his head. "I'll be fine on my own four paws."
She adjusted the makeshift bag that held what was left of Langhyr's body. "I truly am sorry."
Leo's expression was unreadable. "I'll carry it."
Flowyria raised a hand. "As his queen, it is my responsibility to return him to his people."
Leo nodded. "Then at least let us bury your hounds."
"No," Flowyria said firmly. "We do not bury hounds. We leave them where they fell."
She gazed at the ruined battlefield. "At least they will return to nature."
Leo saw the wisdom in that. With a final glance at the fallen, he shifted back into a panther and escorted the queen home.
---
NEIGHHH!
The jet-black stallion galloped through the forest, reveling in its newfound freedom.
It would be short-lived.
"I can't believe you lost," a deep voice murmured. A large man with pale skin stood at the forest's edge, watching the distant figures disappear.
"At least the Huntran got you before I did," he sighed, swinging onto his own horse. Blood-red eyes burned through the night.
"Still, that knife must be retrieved—at all costs."
And with that, he rode into the darkness.