"Chief, nothing here… just body parts. Not even a whole corpse," Maria reported, her face pale.

"And there are a lot of SP particles… a lot."

"You think they're all moving somewhere?" Dylan asked, still queasy from his hangover.

"Have you taken samples yet?" David's voice was calm, almost casual, which startled both of them.

"And yes, Dylan. A group of scavengers must have attacked this fraternity and sorority house, turning most of them into vampires like themselves."

Maria nodded quickly. "Y-yes. I've gathered about ten samples, but the rest are mixed. It's hard to separate them."

"It's fine. Send everything to Sam."

The chief turned to Matthew, who had just come back from inspecting the other houses with the officers. His expression was as flat as ever.

"There are four sororities and five fraternities at Bork University," Matthew said quietly. "All of them are in the same condition."

Not only were the young ones in shock, but David was too. His eyes widened as he moved quickly, phone already in hand. The call connected on the first ring.

"Sam, send all our personnel to barricade Brok University. No one gets in or out!" His voice was sharp, urgent.

"This is S-code! We're under attack by scavengers. This is the biggest strike they've ever pulled…" David swallowed hard, sweat beading at his temple.

"They've turned everyone in the sorority and fraternity houses, every last one of them, Sam!"

His tone dropped even lower, full of urgency. If he couldn't stop it on the campus, the scavengers would spill into the rest of Brok.

It would be like a zombie outbreak, only worse. The whole town would become a Madness Box, a vampire playground.

Sam's voice snapped back quickly. "Alright, Chief. I'll alert everyone. We'll surround all sides of Brok and kill anyone already turned."

David exhaled sharply. "If possible, call the Vampire Hunter Society. Ask for backup."

There was a beat of silence before Sam answered. "…I will. Good luck, buddy."

"You too." David ended the call and turned to his team.

"Matthew, call the officers for reinforcements to barricade Brok. The rest of us are heading to the campus. We need to evacuate survivors before the attack spreads or at least get out the ones not infected yet."

He fixed his gaze on Dylan and Maria. "Listen carefully. Our mission is to save and evacuate, not play hero. Save yourself first, then others. And don't do anything dumb, Dylan."

"You're both young, new, and reckless, so stay behind me."

Dylan's mouth opened as if to protest, but one look at David's face killed the words. He just nodded. Maria agreed too, then spoke up quietly.

"Chief, Seamus is already there. He had morning classes. Diane too, I think. Should we call Lulu or the other Velstraths?"

"You call Lulu. I'll inform the rest myself."

They moved quickly. Matthew went with the officers while David took the wheel, driving hard and sending messages to Seamus and Isolde. Seamus's reply confirmed what David already feared, they were under attack.

Today will be rough. Bloody. He wasn't even sure if he'd survive.

'I need to call him too,' David thought grimly as he hit send.

***

"This is bad…" Seamus muttered, staring at the message from David.

Killing scavengers was no problem. Protecting and evacuating people? That was the real headache. How could he save anyone in this kind of mess without them ending up hurting even more or becoming burned to him and Diane?

"What is it, Seamus? And why did you put them all to sleep? I could've just killed them."

Diane's voice cut through his thoughts. They were standing in the middle of the hallway, surrounded by unconscious scavengers sprawled on the floor as they were now inside their own nightmare.

"This way's faster," he said flatly.

"You can kill them one by one without wasting energy. Save your SP and stamina, Diane. If they're moving in formation like this, it means they've got another plan."

Living with the Velstraths had taught him what monsters really were: cunning, egoistic, and vicious. Best to be careful.

'Still, we're understaffed. Because of that, we can't track the Raven or whatever they're planning… or maybe we're just not smart enough.'

Seamus exhaled sharply. They were on the second floor now, having cleared their way up from the cafeteria to Building A and without realizing it, they built an evacuation track for the survivors as the cafeteria backdoor led to one of the many exits of campus.

The problem was the campus itself, three separate building complexes. Wiping out all the scavengers would be a nightmare with only two of them.

'If only I had a mapping skill,' he thought grimly, tightening his grip on his weapon.

Screams echoed down the corridor. Three students came running toward them, two men and a woman. Seamus recognized their faces from class.

"You! You're Seamus, right? We have to run!" Josh's shirt was soaked in dark blood.

"Why are you standing there?!" the woman—Cindy, if he remembered right—was panicking, dragging a pale boy over her shoulder.

"Let's get out of here! Don't you see his wound?!"

Fresh blood spurted from Randal's neck, a clear vampire bite.

Before anyone could react, Diane drew a dagger from her own arm and, without hesitation, cut Randal cleanly across the throat. He slumped lifelessly to the floor.

Cindy and Josh froze. Cindy dropped to her knees, screaming, shaking the corpse, trying to wake him. But it was useless, he was dead.

"You bitch! What are you doing?!" Josh lunged at Diane, but Seamus stepped in, catching his arm mid-swing.

"If you don't want your hand cut off, listen," Seamus said coldly.

"Your friend was infected. He would've turned into a monster any second. Better to kill him now."

"WHAT?! FUCK YOU!" Josh tried to pull free, but Seamus's grip didn't budge.

"Believe me or don't," Seamus said, voice like ice. "But get out of my way if you don't want to end up like your friend."

The words sounded brutal even to his own ears, but this was one of David's standing orders, kill all the infected before they could turn.

He really did feel sorry for them, but pity wouldn't keep anyone alive.

Josh's eyes trembled. He glanced between Seamus and Diane, then down at Cindy, who was still kneeling beside the corpse.

Biting his lip hard enough to draw blood, he grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. Together they staggered away down the hall.

"Hey!" Seamus called after them. "Use the cafeteria back door. It's clear!"

They didn't look back, just kept running.

He exhaled, a thin sigh. 'I hope they listen.'

He watched until their silhouettes vanished around a corner.

"Let's go," Diane said.

Her tone had lost its earlier irritation; she squeezed his hand lightly. "I can feel more scavengers up ahead. We need to clean them out."

They moved toward the stairwell. The steps were slick with spilled blood; several scavengers crouched there, feeding on a half-dead man.

Seamus raised his hand. Blood along the walls, floor, and ceiling shivered, broke apart, and gathered around his palm in quivering red orbs.

With a flick of his fingers, the orbs elongated into needles that shot forward.

The scavengers didn't even have time to look up. One heartbeat they were feeding, the next they were skewered, bodies flash-frozen, shattering as they hit the tiles.

"Wow, is that—" Diane began, but she broke off. Every hair on her arms stood on end. Her pupils contracted to pinpricks.

Seamus felt it too, though less acutely than her. A pressure in the air, like the low rumble before an earthquake.

"Something's coming," she whispered. "Something really strong."

"Yes…" He scanned the shadowed stairwell above them. "Let's go."

Diane nodded once, jaw tight. Together they ascended, dispatching scavengers as they went.

Seamus found himself directing survivors to side passages, barking out the safest routes without slowing his stride.

By the time they reached the rooftop door, his heart was hammering, if his instinct was true, it must be their leader, Lady Crow.

***

"Is my army already on the move?" the woman asked.

Even under Brok's cloudy afternoon sky her figure was hidden in shadow. She swirled the glass in her hand, the red liquid sliding lazily along the crystal.

"Yes, my lady. They're already moving. Those fools are busy with them, and we can take what we want instead," replied an older woman with grey hair.

Despite looking to be in her fifties, she held herself with the poise of someone twenty years younger.

"Good. Bring our lovely daughter as well."

The lady drank from the glass, clearly in a good mood. The older woman bowed.

"This is good quality," she murmured, chuckling. "Keeping a human farm isn't so bad. I still wonder why the elders wanted it stopped."

"We don't have to worry about being found anymore, my lady. Once this town is ours, we can do whatever we want." The grey-haired woman hesitated.

"But… they won't try to punish us, right?"

"Who? The Seven Covenant?" The lady laughed, a low, amused sound.

"That covenant is just an empty display. Their power and influence have crumbled to dust. Nothing will stop us, Sarah," her red eyes fixed on the woman.

"Not even that useless Emblem of Enigma."

The lady stood up, as she stepped up to the window, a faint light touched her face and long beautiful cinnamon colored hair.

"We will move to our second phase to not only control this town, but also others and many more."

"Yes, Lady Roanna, just leave it all to us who serve you." The old woman bowed once again welcoming the new era of Corvane.

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