Jason struggled through the tunnel, his boots slipping on loose stone, his lungs burning with every breath. The ground kept quaking beneath him—violent tremors that threw him off balance and sent him crashing into walls. The ceiling kept threatening to fall every second, cracks spreading like spiderwebs above his head.

"Why am I doing this?"

The question echoed in his mind with every step. He was weak and alone, he could barely handle a spider as well. Kaelen was a reptile he had known for barely a week. A guild member who had called him "little meat" and laughed at his jokes.

But Kaelen was a decent enough person. In a world full of monsters and manipulators, the reptile had been straightforward. Honest and a tad bit kind.

Jason knew that if he could save him, he would.

He rounded a corner and nearly collided with two figures.

She had pale skin and sunken eyes with sharp cheekbones. Vampires. Two of them, huddled against the wall, their torn clothes hanging off their thin frames. They flinched when they saw him.

"Oi!" Jason barked, not slowing down. "You two! Get the fuck out! The cave is collapsing!"

He ran past them, not waiting for a response.

The vampires stared after him. In the brief moments he had been in their line of sight—the torchlight catching his face, his round ears, his pink skin—they had seen something familiar.

"Was that... an elf?" one asked.

"No ears," the other said. "But the face... the build..."

"Where are you going?!" the first sister shouted after him.

Jason didn’t look back. "I’m going to save my friend!"

The sisters exchanged a glance. Their brother was somewhere in these tunnels. Taken by webs. Dragged into darkness. They had been searching for hours.

This stranger—this elf or not-elf—might be their best chance.

They followed.

Jason heard the footsteps behind him. Two sets. Light. Fast.

"Great. Now I have an audience."

He had no idea where he was going. The tunnels twisted and branched, each one looking exactly like the last. The quaking had thrown off any sense of direction. He was running blind.

But with the two vampires now following, he had to play it off. Pretend he knew exactly what he was doing.

He straightened his back. Quickened his pace. Glanced at side passages like he was evaluating them.

"Left," he said, more to himself than to them.

He turned left.

The tunnel opened into a wider passage. The ground here was different—scraped. Grooved. Like something heavy had been dragged through.

Jason’s heart leaped.

Drag marks. Fresh ones. Leading deeper into the darkness.

Kaelen. This was the only thought that flashed through his mind.

"Hang in there," Jason thought. "I’m coming."

He ran faster.

-

Kaelen was on the verge of death, he could feel it in his bones.

His body sagged against the stone wall, his claws leaving deep gouges in the rock as he struggled to stay upright. The poison had spread through his veins like wildfire, numbing his limbs, clouding his vision. His scales had lost their luster. His breath came in ragged, shallow gasps.

The hatchlings circled him, their too-many legs clicking against the floor, their too-many eyes gleaming in the darkness. They were waiting. Patient. Hungry.

Kaelen knew he couldn’t fight them all. He could barely lift his arms.

"This is it," he thought. "This is where I die."

But unknown to him, something else was happening.

Across the chamber, a cocoon pulsed. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

It was different from the others—larger, darker, wrapped in layers of silk that seemed to absorb the light. Inside, a figure hung suspended. Pale skin. Dark hair. Eyes closed.

The vampire the queen had captured.

His red eyes shot open.

The cocoon that barely held him blew outward—not exploded, but pushed, as if an invisible force had expanded from within. Silk shredded. Strands disintegrated. The vampire dropped to the ground, landing gracefully on his feet, his hands sliding into his pockets.

He didn’t stagger. Didn’t gasp. Didn’t even blink.

Aura farming, one would say.

Kaelen’s head snapped toward the sound. His blurry vision struggled to focus. He saw a shape—tall, slender, pale—emerging from the wreckage of silk.

"Another spider?" he thought. "No..."

The vampire turned his head, his red eyes scanning the chamber. He took in the destroyed cocoons, the dead hatchlings, the blood splattered across Kaelen’s claws.

Then his gaze landed on the reptile.

Kaelen’s instincts took over.

Despite his weakness, despite the poison, despite the blood loss—he launched himself at the vampire. His claws extended with his jaws opened. He moved faster than he should have been able to.

The vampire didn’t move an inch.

He stood there, hands in his pockets, red eyes calm, as Kaelen’s claws stopped inches from his throat.

Kaelen froze.

Not because he wanted to. Because he couldn’t move. His body had locked up. His blood had stopped flowing. Something was holding him in place—something invisible, something absolute.

"Blood manipulation!?" Kaelen muttered under his breath, his yellow eyes wide.

He knew the skill. Every creature in this world knew of it. A rare, forbidden ability that allowed the user to control the blood of any living being within range. Veins, arteries, heartbeats—all of it. At the whim of the user.

Only a pure blood vampire could wield it.

Kaelen’s blood ran cold. "You’re... a pure blood?"

The vampire tilted his head. "I am."

He released his hold. Kaelen’s body sagged, but he caught himself on the wall, his chest heaving.

The vampire looked down at Kaelen’s stomach—at the small, pulsing lump beneath his scales. The egg that the queen had implanted. The one that would have hatched into another spider.

With a flick of his fingers, the vampire destroyed it.

Kaelen gasped as something inside him dissolved. Warmth spread through his abdomen, then faded. The lump was gone.

"Consider that a gift," the vampire said.

Kaelen stared at him. "Why?"

"I’m not your enemy." The vampire took his hands out of his pockets and gestured at the chamber. "You destroyed over forty cocoons. That weakened the fumes. Gave me enough clarity to break free."

Kaelen blinked. "You were awake in there?"

"Conscious. Not awake." The vampire’s red eyes swept across the remaining hatchlings, which had stopped circling and were now backing away slowly. "I felt everything. The silk tightening. The venom seeping. The queen’s voice in my mind." He paused. "And I felt you destroying her children. One by one. It... annoyed her."

Kaelen’s jaw tightened. "Good."

The vampire’s lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile.

He took a deep breath, filling his lungs for the first time in days. Then he looked at the spiders closing in on them—at least two dozen hatchlings, their mandibles dripping, their legs twitching.

He simply tilted his head to the side.

Snap.

Every single spider in the chamber had their necks broken simultaneously. The sound was like a hundred twigs cracking at once. Their bodies dropped to the ground, legs curling inward, twitching once before going still.

Kaelen stared.

"That’s... terrifying," he said.

The vampire shrugged. "Efficient."

He walked across the chamber, stepping over the dead spiders, his bare feet silent on the stone. Kaelen followed, his legs still shaky, his vision still blurred.

"This is the nest," the vampire said, gesturing at the hanging remnants of silk, the scattered eggshells, the bones piled in the corners. "I’ve been tracking these creatures for weeks. The rumors said something was wrong in Stonefang. Something evolving."

"And you let yourself get captured?"

"I allowed myself to be brought to the nest." The vampire glanced back at Kaelen. "It was the fastest way to find the source."

Kaelen shook his head. "You’re insane."

"Perhaps." The vampire stopped at the entrance to a tunnel—the one Kaelen had been dragged through. His red eyes peered into the darkness. "But I do not think these creatures are the only ones that have evolved. I believe the queen has as well."

Kaelen’s stomach dropped. "What do you mean?"

"The spiders outside—the small ones, the workers—they’re smarter than they should be. Faster. More organized." The vampire turned to face him. "And the queen... she’s not acting like a queen. She’s acting like something else. Something that’s learned."

Kaelen’s claws scraped against the stone. "If she’s evolved—"

"Then she’s more dangerous than anything in this dungeon." The vampire’s voice was calm, but his red eyes were serious. "I came here to investigate the rumors. To confirm if the queen was changing. I have my answer."

He looked back at the tunnel.

"But we have bigger problems now."

Kaelen followed his gaze. The darkness seemed to pulse. The air grew heavier. The temperature dropped.

"The queen," Kaelen said. "She’s coming."

The vampire nodded. "Yes."

Far in the distance, a low, rumbling screech echoed through the tunnels. The sound of something massive moving. Something hungry and angry.

Kaelen’s hand went to his belt—empty. His axes were gone.

The vampire noticed. "You’re unarmed."

"I’m not unarmed." Kaelen raised his claws. "I have these."

The vampire’s lips twitched. "Brave. Foolish. But brave."

Another screech. Closer this time.

"We need to move," the vampire said. "The queen knows her nest has been compromised. She’ll come to defend it. And if she’s as evolved as I suspect..."

He didn’t finish the sentence.

He didn’t need to.

Kaelen pushed off the wall, his legs steadier now. The poison was fading—the vampire’s blood manipulation must have accelerated his healing. Or maybe it was just adrenaline.

"Which way?" Kaelen asked.

The vampire pointed toward a tunnel on the far side of the chamber. "That leads to the lower levels. The queen’s chamber."

"Why would we go there?"

"Because that’s where the exit is." The vampire started walking. "The queen’s chamber has a direct passage to the surface. It’s how she hunts. How she drags her prey back."

Kaelen hesitated. "You want to go through her lair?"

"I want to survive." The vampire glanced back. "Coming?"

Kaelen kissed his teeth and followed.

Behind them, the screeching grew louder.

The queen was coming and with what he had seen, Kaelen was surprised why this vampire was retreating, it should have the ability to one-shot the queen with what he had seen.