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Dazed and confused, Daemona picked herself up from the floor and saw Ghul Tark crawling toward a huge mirror against the wall. He was speaking to it as if it housed a doorway. A strange greenish light came from the mirror, despite the gloom.
Sykaryn was the first to make it to her feet and chase after the vampire. She was also the first and only one to see into the mirror.
She stopped cold and lowered her sword. She whispered a question Daemona couldn’t quite make out, but there was a look of joy and relief upon her face. Ignoring the stricken vampire at her feet, Sykaryn stepped into the mirror.
Harlin shouted for her to stop, but Sykaryn passed through the mirror and vanished.
Harlin dashed to follow his princess, only to have the mirror shatter into a million pieces as he neared.
Ghul Tark cried out again, as if the broken mirror had pained him. He stumbled backward, grasping onto the wall as he tried to flee back up the stairs past Malkieth. The curious wizard let him go past without so much as a look.
“Stop him!” shouted Harlin.
“What do you want me to do?” asked Malkieth with a shrug. “He’s a vampire lord, let him go where he wants. Outside. He’ll get his. Trust me.”
Harlin cast him a dirty look and raced up the stairs.
“I’m on it,” Daemona answered, porting up the stairs into the chamber above.
Ghul Tark fled toward the open doorway. Harlin was up the stairs in a heartbeat, Ghul Lykos and Ivy close behind.
Daemona was the first to reach the vampire and buried her daggers into his torso.
He cried out again and transformed into a bat, but this time not the hulking huge form of Vampiro; this time it was the form of a small vampire bat. Its wings flapped rapidly as it made to escape out the door.
“It’s all right, he can’t go far now,” said Malkieth, slowly walking toward them.
“Cast a spell! Do something! We can’t let his evil escape!” yelled Ghul Lykos. “I’ll not be denied my justice!”
“Its fine,” said Malkieth leisurely. “It’s dawn, after all.”
And sure enough, just as Ghul Tark’s tiny bat form flew out the door and across the porch, the first rays of dawn came from across the horizon. The rosy pink light touched the dark vampire bat skin and he shrieked loud enough to hurt Daemona’s eardrums. The foul reek of sulphur and smoke filled their nostrils and a loud pop sounded and the bat was gone.
Chapter 20.
“Is that it? Is it over?” asked Esmerelda.
“I think so,” said Harlin. “I don’t see any more boneheads or ghouls or zombies.”
“Without their master, all the foul things under Ghul Tark’s dominion should melt away,” said Malkieth.
Daemona suddenly realized their little group was missing several members. Miniver was gone, Daemona remembered with an ache, but Ivy was also missing. She looked around, searching for the blonde. She spotted her back inside the manor, hiding from the rising sun.
“I can’t go out there,” she said. “It’s far too bright. Like a million suns are shining.”
Ghul Lykos went to her and walked inside. “I’ll stay with you until you can leave, and we can all go home again.”
Ivy wiped at her eyes. “I don’t know where my home could ever be now. I’m changed forever. I’m one of those awful things now too.”
Ghul Lykos took her in his all-too-human arms. “Look at me. I have been cursed, but I choose to use it for good. You can too.”
She looked at him with tears in her eyes and smiled. “Thank you.”
Daemona found herself smiling too and looked to Harlin. He was frowning. “I’ve lost them,” he said.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I have to go back to King Graymont and tell him I failed.”
