Kalos was worried. They only sent one vampire, but he knew that they know that it would take more than that. Either the rest are being held up by whatever it was that they're doing in the foyer, or they plan to ambush me, he thought as he continued along freezing entrances and intersections to stop any pursuit, on the bright side, this is fun. He was close, about three turns and thirty-seven paces away from the treasure room. If anyone looked at him they would see nothing, but the wall behind him, thanks to another spell. He was running low on energy and could probably cast only a couple of spell before he would need a rest. Hopefully it won't come to that, he thought.
************************************************** ************************
Theikos sat at the edge of his cave, looking out over the mountains. He was in his human form and decided to fly down and visit his friend Kalos. He grabbed his sword and put the hood of his cloak up as he sprouted wings and flew towards the village. As he flew towards the village, he sensed the ever present vampires, but there was another being in there. Kalos, you idiot. How many times do I have to tell you that there are safer ways to get gold? he thought with a grumble as he descended to the south of the castle.

Rasul let out a grunt as he was thrown down the stairs. He recovered in a flash and bared his fangs in anger. The fire lit up his eyes like coals. Exposing itself had not been the spirit's best move. He stalked up to the fire, testing its heat. No matter what, he could not let this thief get away again. He put his arms over his face and dashed through the fire as quickly as he could. Once through, the window next to him grew dark and then burst open as thousand and thousands of bats whirled around him, extinguishing the flames on him with the wind from their wings. He was burned severely but he knew it would heal soon enough. The wall of fire, however, was too great for the small creatures to do anything about. "Forgive me, I'll repair the damage," he muttered either to Vexous or the castle it was unclear, before running after the spirit.

Vesous was tiring of the same scene, she stood up and walked over to the man.
"i'm afraid i'll have to cut this short" she said looking down at him, "other matters must be attended to".
making sure the girls had taken the slave away she reached out and stroked the mans chin, "it's such a pity too, i was looking forward to feasting on you"
her eyes turned a shade of red and she smiled bearing her fangs. "oh and don't worry about the girl we'll keep her" with those last words she twisted the mans head clean off.
Dropping his head to the floor she sighed, "i'm not in the mood to feed anymore, what a shame" licking her fingers she noticed she was now covered in blood, "oh and i liked this dress too!" she said rolling her eyes.
Grabbing the man's collar she dragged the body up the stairs.
"any one hungry? coz he's just going in the firing otherwise" the smell of blood was right through the castle now and she was leaving a trail of it as she walked.

Chastity sensed that Rasul was in trouble and the thief had caused harm to the castle and was still on the loose. "Well I didn't that's for sure. Thank you for the welcome but I do have to take care of something," she said as she stood up smiling to rest around her,"If you'll excuse me. I'll be back soon." She walked behind a wall where nobody could see her and faded into the shadows. Chastity appeared in front of Rasul. "Seems there was trouble you ran into. Looks like you might need my help," she said with a small grin, "I'll try to cut him off since I can move around a bit faster, you see if you can get through some of his spells, they can be tricky." As Chastity said that she once again faded within the shadows. She had a bit of trouble finding the thief at first but as she appeared again she could sense somebody close by, You won't get away this time she thought. It was like this something was right in front of her but all she saw was an empty corridor, "Another one of your tricks. Why don't you come out of hiding you thief? Show yourself!" This is going to be fun.

How best to deal with this one? Kalos thought as he turned around, Ah, interesting. The shadow manipulator. The obvious answer would be to remove the shadows. Kalos created a dome of ice and set it upon the vampire as he created heatless flame to give off light all around the dome. This task was further enhanced due to the fact that the ice acted as a mirror and reflected it. Nodding in satisfaction, he turned and hurried down the second of three turns. One more turn and fourteen paces to go, he thought with a smile.

Theikos quickly made his way up to the castle door and knocked rather loudly. Casting a rather simple spell to make his every word believable, he waited for somebody to open the door.

Rasul let out a snarl as he was contained in ice. Not even bats could help him now and he was too high up to call his wolves. He took a step back and rammed himself against the clear dome. It shook violently but didn't break. The friction of his burns on the dome made him wince. This was not how he had planned spending his night back at the castle.

Outside, two wolves paced by the castle, growling defencively when they noticed Theikos. They smelled that he was not human and their hackles raised but other than that, they left him alone. He was not the one their master was furious with.

Vexous frowned as she approached Rasul, throwing the body into the flames it hissed. "you let yourself get turned into an ice cube" she giggled a little.
"have you forgotten that the castle is alive, you could have trapped him if you only asked it" she was speaking in a way that was informative but not bossy.
Shifting to her true form she closed her eyes speaking in an ancient language she asked the castle to use the fire to melt the ice.
"there is that better?" she asked, shifting again to her shadow form (looks like a ghost) she glided into the nearest wall. i'll go ahead she voice whispered as she used the castle walls to move quickly.

i sense a dragon nearby, no it's a half breed, interesting, i wonder how it feels about our race. she had stopped several halls away from the thief and was looking out a large window in the direction of the dragon.

"Four hundred ninety-nine, five hundred," Kalos said in accomplishment as he stuffed the last gold crown into his pocket. Now for the getaway, Kalos thought as he laid another teleportation spell upon himself before teleporting to the secret gardens, Dang, another one just walked into the room while I teleported. That was a close one. He then cloaked his presence one last time before climbing into a tree to get some shut-eye. They won't find me now, he thought smugly, I'm invisible and undetectable.

Theikos didn't really mind vampires. They weren't high on his favourites list, but at least they haven't tried to raid his cave like those villagers. He sighed as he knocked again. Kalos apparently plans on spending the night again, he thought with another sigh, Come on, hurry up and answer the door. He just hoped that Kalos wouldn't be in too much trouble.

Vexous frowned at her heard the knock, "he knocks?" she giggled a little "he must be polite then".
in a couple of seconds she was out side and behind the visitor.
"greetings, to what pressure do i owe you for this visit?" she was still in her shadow form if any human were to walk be they wouldn't see her at all.
as the thief teleported she felt the shift of magic in the castle.
"i hope he realizes the castle wont let him leave, it's not my gold after all it's hers, she doesn't even let us take it" she said out load not really meaning to.
she just smiled.

Rasul growled. "It's been a while since I asked the castle to do anything," he muttered in embarassement. Now he was wet and burned, not to mention that his ego had taken quite a blow. "Oh well," he told himself. "At least he can't get too far. All those spells he used...He must be here somewhere." He wrung his shirt out and walked quietly back down the steps, keeping out of the way of any vampires or slaves he came across.

Noticing that their master was free and he was in no mood for his pets, the wolves lowered their heads and ran off, sulking a bit.

"Ahh...Madame, I presume that this is your castle?" Theikos asked the vampire while slowly turning around. "It is a truly magnificient piece of architecture. Shall we continue inside?" He asked once more as he walked inside and placed his cloak on the rack. He continued in and sat in one of the chairs that were arranged around the living room. "By now you've assuredly sensed what I am, correct?" He asked in the same respectful tone he had been using sense he was greeted. He decided to let her continue the conversation as a slave came in and gave him a cup of tea. If there was one thing that living in the palace taught him, it was how to get what he wanted.

Chastity noticed something that looked like a big block forming above her and faded into the floor before it could trap her. The bad thing was that Rasul did get caught. She decided she would try to cut him off from a different direction but when she appeared again the thief was gone and so was Rasul. Guess I missed all of the fun. She decided to go downstairs since she sensed a new presence come in. Instead of taking her short cut she decided to use the stairs as to let who ever it was know she was entering. Chastity appeared from behind a wall and saw Vexous by the door and an unknown man, or what looked like a man, sitting in the living room. She rested upon the wall to watch and to be ready in case Vexous needed help in any way.

Kalos was awakened when he hit the ground with a thump. Stupid gravity,he groaned as he rubbed his side, Oh well, at least I have my energy back. He then whispered some words in an ancient language and stuck the amulet in a hollow. Now to go spy on Theikos and Vexous, he stated as he teleported to the fourth floor and made his way down towards the living room.

Vexous smirked alittle as the man took a seat. "i've known what you were before you appeared at my door, and yes this is my castle. it has taken me many years to get it back from the brink of death"
she walked over towards him, "you wouldn't happen to be here because of a small intruder we have.. would you?"
i cant see any other reason for one of his kind being here
sighing she took a seat across from him, "you can close the door" she said aloud, to anyone else it would seem that she was talking to a slave but she was speaking to the castle, not long after the doors slowly closed, "thank you"

"The brink of death? Must have been hard to get if a vampire traveled to the brink of death," Thiekos said as he took another sip of his tea, "Would you mind telling me the story of how you came to get this castle from the brink of death? I'm sure that it was a fantastic and breathtaking journey." He sat and waited for her to begin, With any luck she'll forget all about Kalos, he thought with a smile, Oh yes, a little flattery could go a long way.

I sense something weird coming from the castle, Brykolakas thought with a snarl, better go check it out. He quickly made his way through the small forest that separated the village from the castle and made his way up towards the front door. The door was wide open, but suddenly started to close as he approached. He stopped when the door finally closed and examined the presences that radiated from the castle. The one that stood out the most gave him a tremendous amount of anger. A dragon!, he thought with a snarl, I should have known. As he finished that furious thought, he found himself knocking on the door with all of his might.

Rasul listened as another guest was let into the castle and then later when yet again a knock echoed from the door. "So many visitors," he purred. "It's a good thing I returned." Rasul, being a lone vampire or so long, had gotten into the habit of talking to himself rather than keeping his thoughts inside. He could just hear the different tones of the people approaching the castle by the way they tried to get in. "Let the thief rest for a moment. As long as he stays still he is safe." He stalked down to his chamber, a stone room with no windows. "But as soon as he moves, I'll have my revenge for being disgraced."

Vexous smiled and giggled alittle as the man asked to hear the story of the castle, "it is long and i do not want to bore you with it" she smiled until she spotted the severed head that still lay on the ground, she frowned.
"oh my i totally forgot about his head!"
standing she inclined her head to the man "if you would excuse me i do need to get rid of that, i wont be a moment" she explained as she picked the head up from the floor and started walking for the kitchen area when yet another knock sounded on the door.
"more visitors?" looking at the clock she frowned "and it will be dawn soon to" waving her hand the door opened to revel a man with golden hair and red eyes. "what brings you here tiger?" she asked, she was standing several feet away from the door still holding the severed head.
Vexous had always had a soft spot for were animals, but this one was filled with rage so she dare not approach him until she knew the reason for his being here.

Brykolakas's eyes were immediately drawn to the severed head that she held. "The dragon, did he do that?" he asked pointing to the head. If he killed an innocent, I'll cover my windows with his hide, he thought with another snarl. ((not much to say at this point))

"oh this" she said holding the head up, "no that was me, he was no innocent ether, trading slaves ridiculous!"
"you dont..like dragons?" she asked glancing back to the living room.
"huh i see" she moved alittle closer, "were you drawn to the castle, or to him?"
Extending her hand she introduced herself, "My name is Vexous, i bid you welcome, would you care to come in?"

"No, I've never liked dragons, so I'll have to bid you farewell before I do something that I'd regret. I would hate to ruin your lovely castle, but maybe another time I could come and visit," he was still full of anger, but the more sensible side of him had taken control. He was quickly walking away when he shouted back, "If you need anything just let me know."

She frowned, "as you wish, and thankyou for the offer"
she wasn't sure if she should stop him or not, but with the dragon here things may get ugly. I do hope we meet again she thought as she turned and walked to the kitchen area, sighing aloud she placed the head in a bag and put in the sink. The wolfs should enjoy this, a nice snack, i'll just have to remember to give it to them before the end of the night she glanced at the large clock, and before the humans wake up. as she walked once again towards the living room area, the front doors were now closed and she wondered what the tiger was doing and where the ghost had gotten off to, "hmm so many questions this evening and not many answers"

"Madame, is there a problem?" Theikos stated in his respectful tone. "I'm afraid that I must depart. My cousin's coronation is in a few days and it would break his heart if I was late," he said as he stood. Bowing he walked out of the room and towards the front door, "But rest assured, I will visit often after I return." Walking outside, he sprouted his wings and took off towards the dragon capital. If he hadn't asked me, I wouldn't be going at all, he thought bitterly.

Vexous watched him fly, "my this is a very unusual night indeed"
sighing she turned to face the stairs. the sun would be rising soon and she was becoming tired.
First all this blood needs cleaned up, the new slaves would freak other wise she thought, "Come on people!" she said aloud "we have work to do!"
she was talking to the slaves manly, that was the line for 'clean up after your masters time' but this job was only for the most trusted slaves, the ones who new the absolute truth and could handle it.
looking down on herself she felt a little ashamed making humans do the dirty work, cleaning up after her own mess, they may be slaves but...... they still have souls. she decided to stay and help clean the mess with the slaves.

Kalos was having fun. He just kept wandering the halls, scaring the slaves until the sun came up. Thinking that he should end his fun before the vampires caught him, he left the castle after whispering words of thanks in the ancient language. Wishing that Theikos would hurry back, he made his way to the orphanage, where he left the money without a second glance.