Multiple figures were up on the rooftop, locked in a battle of blades and nails. Soleil clashed with a finely dressed noble wielding a sabre, while Sophia dodged attacks from a pair of vampiric servants. At the center of the fray was Queen Isabella, held in the left arm of the noble like a lifeless doll. Her body still swung in tandem with the man's movements, as if they were locked in a ballroom dance led by the taller gentleman. 

Soleil growled as each swing of her sword was met with an effortless deflection of metal. She couldn't attack with her full strength, forced to focus on keeping her balance on the narrow rooftop and avoid slashing the Queen at his side. "I told you that leaving the windows open was a bad idea!" the paladin barked.

"It was faster than waiting for Vynx," Sophia retorted. She crossed her forearms in front of her, blocking a blow from a vampiric butler. Unlike Soleil, her movements were graceful as she leapt backwards, dodging kicks and swipes from the servants set on her. 

"Hah, I'm wounded. I can't believe you two started the party without me!" Vynx leapt onto the stone balcony and grabbed the ledge of the roof to hoist himself up. "Hope you don't mind if I join the tango." He dashed across the angled roof tiles, cutlass drawn and poised to strike the vampire noble from behind. Just as he closed the distance between them, Isabella's body swept in front of Vynx. He froze mid-swing, his blade halting right before it could slash the sleeping Queen. Her body swayed like a puppet on invisible strings, her eyes shut in enchanted sleep while her limbs moved to block the hunter. 

"Oh yeah? This is one elaborate invitation if your goal was just to see me," Vynx sneered back. He raised his pistol, keeping it aimed at Conrad's head, even as the vampire tilted back Isabella's face to expose her neck to the moonlight. 

"Your presence was expected, but hardly my end goal." The vampire rolled his eyes. "With you ending several of our esteemed lords, I decided it was time for us to remind you humans what your place is." Conrad's grin grew until his ivory fangs gleamed. "Even your monarchs are nothing more than our tools. Toys to be used… and disposed of whenever we please." His cruel smile stretched further, and crimson eyes glinted in delight as he aimed his fangs for Isabella's delicate flesh.

"Not on my watch, buddy." Vynx fired off his gun. His silver bullet whizzed past Conrad's nose, but the vampire had already disappeared from the spot he was just standing at. Isabella teetered on her feet, and as if her invisible strings had been cut, her body lost its balance on the rooftop and began to fall through the air. "Shit—" Vynx lunged forward, reaching out to grab her arm, but a blow from the side knocked him off his own feet. The hunter braced himself as he came crashing and rolling down the roof tiles, only able to grab the ledge before he was thrown off completely. He switched hands just as Conrad reappeared above him, attempting to stomp on the hunter's fingers as he dangled off the edge. "You're one hell of a bastard, you know that?!" 

Soleil dove to grab Isabella and slammed her sword through the roof tiles to catch their weight. She clutched the sleeping woman by the waist and shook her insistently. "Your Majesty…!" Soleil hissed. She wanted to go after Conrad to help Vynx but decided it was more important to keep the Queen out of the fray. "Sophia, we can use some help when you're done!" she called. 

"I'm rather busy over here," Sophia returned. The servants kept her blocked off from approaching the others and were quickly backing her up to the other edge of the roof. As the maid lunged in, Sophia caught her arm and swung the female vampire over the side, throwing her off the ledge with the momentum of her attack. A fall from their current height would be enough to kill a lesser vampire, especially a lower-ranking thrall. The butler hesitated, hearing the cry and crack of bones as the maid hit the stone below. Angered, he lashed at Sophia again, but the vampiress was fast to catch his wrist. A short struggle ensued, with both vampires attempting to shove the other from the ridge, only for Sophia to suddenly pull backwards, sending them both off the edge. Before they could careen to their doom, Sophia let go of the flailing butler's arm, shifting into her bat form and beating her wings to lift herself back into the air again. She watched as his body splattered onto the ground, a pool of red appearing right beside the fallen maid's. 

Vynx had no ability to transform or fly like Sophia, so getting back on the rooftop was far more challenging while dodging stabs from the vampire noble. At least it kept Conrad's attention on him, giving Sophia the chance to land on the roof and shapeshift back. Seeing both his companions and the Queen safe, Vynx finally swung his weight to avoid another jab from Conrad's sabre and threw himself back up on the roof while Sophia shot forward to attack. He wasn't about to let the others steal the show, though he did feel a sense of pride to see his girls doing so well without him. The hunter tightened his grip on his sword and refocused on Conrad's figure. 

The vampire was fast—much faster than the average vampire—and the difference was clear as Sophia's swipes and kicks failed to connect. But Vynx had taken down high-ranking bloodsuckers before, and once he identified the patterns, he was able to match Conrad's speed, blow for blow. Their swords rang out into the night, sending sparks flying each time they clashed. The thing with vampire nobles was that they all fought using the same style: an advanced form of fencing that utilized their speed and precision, sending flurries of attacks that would skewer their opponent before they had a chance to react. But once they realized that clean jabs weren't enough, then they would tap into their savage strength to overwhelm their prey. His swings became wider, his eyes more frantic as his bloodlust rose. Conrad's senses all honed in on Vynx's drumming heart, the blood rushing through his veins, and the spray of crimson that rained into the air as his blade finally sliced across the hunter's chest. 

That was when Vynx struck—with Conrad laughing triumphantly from delivering what should've been a killing blow, he hardly noticed as the Hunter switched out his pistol for the stake hidden up his sleeve. In a split second, Vynx lodged the silver stake deep into the vampire's chest, stunning the noble in an instant as blood began to bloom across the front of his suit. Vynx ignored the gash across his own chest; within seconds, the sigil on his back gleamed under his clothing, and the wound closed right before the paralyzed vampire's eyes. 

Conrad staggered backwards, bringing a hand to the metal spike lodged in his chest. "How…? You… you aren't human, are you?!" he rasped. Blood bubbled to his mouth, and the vampire noble took another shaky step back from Vynx. His conceited expression twisted into one of pain and desperation as smoke began to rise from the wound—the blessed properties of the silver stake preventing his natural regeneration from healing the hole in his chest cavity. 

"I'm a man, just like any other." Vynx spun his cutlass in a flourish. Before the vampire could retaliate, he charged forward, lopping off Conrad's head with a powerful swing. Both body and cranium fell with a thud onto the rooftop before rolling down tiles and off the slanted ledge. The hunter wiped the blood clean from his blade and sheathed it back into his belt. 

"Mh…" Isabella stirred in Soleil's arms. Her emerald eyes fluttered open, as if rising from a lucid dream. The Queen looked around in confusion, the vast night sky above them an unfamiliar sight from the soft canopy of her bedchambers. "D-did I sleepwalk again…?" she asked, startled to see the blood streaked across Vynx's jacket. 

"You did, but don't worry. That should be the last of these nightmares." Vynx let out a yawn as he stretched his arms above his head. "Our uninvited guests have been taken care of." He glanced over the balcony at the glimmers of torchlight gathered on the ground level as guards rushed to burn the fallen vampire bodies. 

Isabella nodded shakily while clutching to Soleil as the paladin guided her back down onto the safety of her bedroom balcony. When her bare feet touched the flat stone, she breathed a sigh of relief and curtsied in thanks to the trio. "You have done us a great kindness. I won't forget your deeds, Sir Tusand."

"Aww, you can just call me Vynx, Bell." Vynx dropped onto the balcony and puffed up his chest. "Tell Charles to forward my pay to the Commission, yeah? Ooh, and maybe a gift basket of wine and sweetmeats." He beamed, his eyes lighting up at the thought of trying some of the royal confectioner's new treats. 

The Queen broke into a laugh, hiding her grateful smile behind her hand. "Certainly. Anything you would like from our pantry is yours. You are also more than welcome to join us for breakfast, if you wish." 

"Anything?" Vynx and Soleil both piped up in unison. The two exchanged looks before helping the Queen back to her bed while Sophia shut the windows behind them. While Vynx preferred to leave right after any job for the King, a free breakfast with the royal family suddenly didn't seem so bad. "Weeeell, I'm a busy guy—plenty of jobs lined up, people to save, you know." Vynx was lying; he had absolutely no other work on his plate. "But I think we can afford to stay for breakfast. It's been a while since I said hi to the kids." He was already running through the tale he'd regale Charlemagne with in the morning, eager to "embellish" a few details to entertain the prince and princess. 

The night faded to dawn, and the palace inhabitants arose, like waking from a dream. Rumours of vampires and exorcism swept from the guards' barracks to the servants' quarters, but the fear and suspicion that once gripped the people was gone. The apprehension in the air lifted, as if it had never been there at all.