Two days have passed since the vampires vanished into the mountainside. We're nearing the ruins now, beneath a brooding sky that swallows the moonlight whole. Lightning slashes the earth every few minutes, each flash sending a chill down my spine—as if nature itself warns us to turn back.

We slip through the remnants of what must have once been a guard gate, now mostly crumbled along with vast stretches of the surrounding wall. After trudging another mile, we encounter the skeletal remains of ...