Chapter 4

Axel’s POV

The safety box was supposed to be a safe zone. When you think about it, that’s the joke. Nothing in Dracula’s castle is safe—not the hallways, not the shadows, not the lights, not even your own thoughts. Especially not those.

The metal door groaned when I shut and locked it. The big display flickered like it was powered by ghosts which it probably was. The screen showed the usual leaderboard crap, but what made me stop cold wasn’t the names I saw. It was how few there were.

Half the list was gone. I checked again. My bad, it was more than half. Out of the ninety eight players that entered the castle only twelve were left.

“Holy sheezt,” Bree breathed behind me. “Did they all just… die?”

“Welcome to the castle,” I said flatly.

But even I didn’t buy my own sarcasm. Something was off. The big bads in the castle liked to toy with players before draining them dry, not killing them all at once. This looked like a massacre.

I hit the console button. “System,” I said. “Confirm status of the count. Is Dracula awake?”

The screen lit up but there was no response. I waited but all I got was static.

“System, repeat command,” I said.

Still silent.

Yeah. That wasn’t good. There’s something wrong with the system.

I rubbed my temple. “He’s awake,” I muttered. “That’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

Bree leaned in beside me. “You’re guessing or you know?”

I shot her a look. “Let’s say it’s a pretty hot guess.”

She smiled. It was the kind of smile that said she liked danger and didn’t care if it killed her. “Well, maybe I like a man with good instincts.”

I didn’t answer. Mostly because my brain was too busy replaying the sound of her voice in places I didn’t want it. It’d been a while since anyone looked at me like I was something more than a weapon. But the problem was, I already knew who I wanted looking at me like that and it wasn’t Bree.

We left the safety box heading south. Mia was walking slower now, hanging back like she didn’t want to be noticed. She’d gone quiet since the fight.

I hated that. 

“Stay close,” I said, mostly to her. She nodded without looking at me. I didn’t want to engage so I kept quiet.

Bree brushed against me on purpose as we walked down the corridor. Her nipples poked me and I knew I didn’t imagine it. “She’ll catch up,” she said under her breath.

The hallway was lined with mirrors. They were tall and shiny, polished to perfection. They were the kind of mirrors that made you feel watched because you were. Every deadie knew the rule. Stay away from the mirrors. Look at them and you die. I was busy checking corners when I heard the soft gasp.

I turned and saw Mia standing frozen in front of one of the mirrors.

“Sheezt—Mia, don’t—”

But I was too late.

Her reflection had a wicked grin with empty pitless eyes that looked like an endless void. The reflection reached out, long claw like hands.

“Don’t move,” I yelled, stepping forward.

The reflection’s mouth opened like it wanted to scream, but the sound came out backwards. Then it recoiled like it wanted to escape. It screamed a word that wasn’t a word but sounded like one. 

“ON!”

Then it ran back into the glass like hell itself was chasing it. The mirror cracked down the center and went still. The same weird scream echoed from all the mirrors then they broke too.

Bree looked terrified. “What the actual froshk was that?”

I exhaled, lowering my dagger. “It said ‘ON.’ Which means ‘NO.’ Everything’s reversed here. It looks like it freaked out.”

“Why?” Mia asked in a whisper.

I looked at her. Really looked. “I should be asking you. What did you say? Or do.”

She shrugged. “Nothing.”

“Hmmm. That’s a first. The generals are usually as strong as the count’s family.” I said. My chest felt tight. There was something about Mia that scared me.

We kept moving. I didn’t like the silence. The castle was normally quiet but this time felt worse. It was as if the air itself held its breath.

The Deadie network was buzzing with a strange rumor. Most of the survivors claim there’s a deadie helping the vampires. I wasn’t buying it. Deadies barely helped themselves, let alone the enemy. But after what I’d just seen with Mia and the mirrors, anything was possible.

I signaled for the girls to wait back while I went first through the next doorway alone. Better me than them. I had to make sure it was safe first.

The room looked empty at first but then I heard it. It was the sound of crying. 

I followed the sound until I saw a girl on her knees near the wall. She was curled up in a fetal ball. Low level vampires surrounded her, laughing in a mocking way common to their species. One of them grabbed her by the hair and hissed in her ear.

I didn’t think about it, my body acted on instinct and adrenaline. My dagger was out, fire running up its blade like it missed the taste of blood. With one long swing I dropped two heads clean. Another vampire jumped at me but caught flame before it even touched me. The rest ran for their lives. Cowards with fangs.

The girl whimpered, curling up. “Thank you,”

Her voice trembled, and I think I saw something yellow under her arm.

Before I could ask, she moved. She was too fast for me to react. Hot pain burned my side like a dragon’s kiss. I looked down to see the syringe buried in my ribs. The girl’s grip was strong.

“Son of a—” I ripped it out, but the venom was already burning through me.

She leaned close. “Dracula sends his love.”

She raised another syringe, but before she could drive it in, Bree’s telekinetic blast slammed her into the wall. Mia rushed in, grabbed my arm and used an elixir on me.

“Axel! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” I lied like it was the easiest thing in the world. My vision was doing this fun spinny thing that told me otherwise.

The girl struggled, trying to escape but Bree had her pinned in the air like a puppet. I forced myself upright and swung my dagger at the girl’s throat to make her talk.

Her hat fell off and it was bright yellow.

Mia’s eyes doubled in size. “Holy froshk.”

I nodded. “Yeah. She’s the one.”

The girl smiled. “You’re all so dead.”

I didn’t even have time to think about what was going on when we heard the sound. It was low at first then became a deep rumble. It echoed through the castle like thunder cracking open the world.

Every wall vibrated and it was as if the air got colder. I could feel the familiar frost in my bones. 

Bree swallowed. “What is that?”

I stared at the ceiling, feeling every cell in my undead body waking up. I gulped involuntarily.

“That,” I said, “is the sound of Dracula waking up.”