A House of Evil

The Sword

Once Luke and Blue help Laurence save Barrone, he can no longer stand to be in the same room as them so he helps Barrone to his feet and practically drags him back out into the castle.

"Barrone, if you know a spell that can reverse the effects of the vampire curse, I need you to do it soon." Laurence growls.

Barrone gives his partner a worried look at the sound of this. "Laurence, that's incredibly risky. It could remove the curse from him by infecting me instead if I don't have a strong enough catalyst." Barrone warns.

"I have faith in you." Laurence almost angrily tells Barrone.

"Laurence, I understand what you're feeling, God knows I've felt it too but I think Blue's right. Kier's too far gone. Even if I somehow did manage to pull off a spell of such magnitude, there's no way that he would have the strength to help us fight the Cardinal." Barrone tries to calm the warrior down.

"Dammit Barrone, it's not the same!" Laurence snaps.

The young sorcerer goes a little pale at the sight of Laurence this angry. "It is. Even if we succeed, Blue's magic won't have the strength to keep his soul down here. As much as I really don't want to lose him-" He starts but Laurence only interrupts him.

"-Kier is worth saving! He's been fighting in the castle for more than a decade! What has Drew been able to do, huh?" Laurence harshly cuts in.

"He can't take corporeal form! What else do you expect him to be able to do?" Barrone points out.

"Maybe he could actually try to, I don't know, help his old partner! If I let someone down as much as he did, I'd definitely try to make up for it!" The warrior hisses.

"Drew d-didn't let Kier down." Barrone shakily growls, looking down at the floor and letting his fringe fall in front of his eyes.

"Getting hypnotised and then slaughtered was definitely letting Kier down. If he wasn't such an idiot-" Laurence starts.

"-Don't call him that!" Barrone interrupts.

Laurence walks on furiously. He stops when he doesn't hear Barrone's footsteps following closely behind. He stops and is just about to demand Barrone to follow him when he hears the young sorcerer cry out in pain. He looks over his shoulder to see Barrone with a sharp, bloodied blade sticking out of his chest.

Barrone gasps shakily, some blood spilling out of his mouth and chest. Behind him, Laurence sees familiar red hair and tattoos on the arms.

Kier grins at Laurence with enlarged fangs until he sinks his teeth into Barrone's neck.

A shiver crawls through Laurence at the pained cry Barrone makes. He forces himself to snap out of it, reaching for the legendary sword.

Even though the vampire has seen Laurence reaching for his weapon, he ignores him to keep draining the sorcerer. Barrone's gasps and whimpers get quieter but he forces himself to mouth something to Laurence. Laurence's grip tightens on his sword as he tries to figure out what his friend is saying.

"The s-spell, it's w-working." Barrone can hardly even whisper.

Laurence works it out, quietly murmuring an apology to Barrone as he plunges the sword into his chest to be able to stab Kier with it.

Come on, if you're as powerful as the legends tell me, please work. Don't let this be for nothing. Laurence quietly prays.

Kier looks a little surprised, pulling his fangs out of the dead sorcerer's neck. Laurence notices that there's a blue glow from where the sword is poking through Barrone.