Vader stood before Lucien, red lightsaber humming.
For a moment, silence claimed the chamber as master and shadow regarded each other across the scattered remains of nightcreatures.
Lucien felt something click into place inside him - a completeness he hadn't realized was missing. Through their bond, he sensed Vader's satisfaction at being summoned, his eagerness to protect.
"Good timing," Lucien said, adjusting his grip on his child-body.
Vader inclined his helmet slightly. "Master." The mechanical voice carried a warmth that belied his intimidating appearance.
Behind Lucien, Elaine's breathing quickened as she took in the towering black-armored figure. Her arms tightened around Lucien's neck.
"He's with us," Lucien assured her, feeling her nod against his shoulder.
More nightcreatures poured through the doorway, hesitating as they assessed the new threat. Lucien counted at least thirty, with more shadows moving in the corridor beyond.
'With Vader here, things are looking better for us,' Lucien thought, surveying the horde. 'Together we will be able carve a path all the way out of this hellhole.'
The lead nightcreature - a grotesque fusion of human and insect parts - tilted its head curiously. "What manner of being is this?" it asked, voice carrying Isaac's inflection.
Lucien smiled. "Family."
Without warning, Vader launched forward, lightsaber arcing through the air in a crimson blur.
Three nightcreatures fell in pieces before the others could react, their black blood sizzling against the superheated plasma blade.
Lucien didn't waste the advantage. He pivoted on his back foot, weight shifting fluidly as he tracked the approaching threats.
"Your nine o'clock," he called to Vader without looking.
The Qareen responded instantly, spinning to intercept a winged creature diving from their left. The blade caught it mid-flight, bisecting it cleanly. Black ichor sprayed across the stone floor, sizzling where the superheated plasma had cauterized imperfectly.
Lucien didn't wait for the frontal assault to reach him.
He pushed off his back foot, using Stefan's vampire speed to blur and close the distance. The serpentine creature lashed out with its bladed limb, cutting through air where Lucien's head had been a millisecond earlier.
He had already dropped into a baseball slide - while keeping Elaine safe with telekineses - passing beneath the attack and between the creature's supporting limbs.
As he slid across the stone floor, Lucien twisted his torso, right hand extended toward the ceiling. "Collapse," he commanded.
A section of stone broke free above the creatures, gravity accelerating its descent. The serpent looked up too late as two tons of castle ceiling crushed it against the floor.
The impact sent vibrations through the stone that Lucien felt through his sliding body.
He rolled to his feet in one fluid motion, immediately stepping inside the reach of the first humanoid creature.
Its arms bent at impossible angles, trying to encircle him. Lucien trapped its leading arm against his side, using the creature's momentum to throw it over his hip. As it hit the ground, he drove his heel into its throat with a wet crunch.
The second humanoid leapt toward him, fingers elongating into foot-long claws mid-jump. Lucien sidestepped, torso leaning back just enough for the claws to whisper past his face.
He felt the air move against his skin, smelled the acrid secretion coating the creature's talons.
Without pausing, Lucien grabbed the creature's extended wrist, using its own momentum to swing it in an arc into the wall. Stone cracked under the impact. Before it could recover, Lucien pressed his palm against its chest.
"Invert," he ordered.
The creature's ribcage collapsed inward, bones puncturing organs from the inside out. It slumped to the floor, twitching.
Across the chamber, Vader carved through nightcreatures efficiently, each movement economical yet devastating.
Where Lucien fought savagely and adaptively, Vader was all precision and power - a juggernaut of destruction.
"We need to move," Lucien called, backing toward a side passage. "Find an exit."
Vader nodded, cutting down one last creature before falling into step beside him. They moved together through the doorway, Elaine still clinging to Lucien's back, his child-body secured in his left arm.
The corridor beyond stretched into darkness, torches flickering at irregular intervals. The air grew colder as they advanced, their breath visible in small clouds.
"They're herding us," Lucien muttered, noting the absence of side passages or doors. "This is too convenient."
A high-pitched keening sound echoed from behind. Six nightcreatures had merged into a single mass of flesh and bone, rolling toward them like a grotesque boulder. Its surface bristled with spines that left gouges in the stone floor.
Lucien glanced around, noting a decorative column to his right. He backed up three steps, calculating angles and timing as the flesh-boulder picked up speed.
"Vader," he called, "on my mark."
The Qareen moved into position on the opposite side of the approaching mass, understanding Lucien's intent without explanation.
Their bond allowed for them to work together easily- able to feel each other's emotions through the Force.
Lucien waited until the rolling mass was five meters away before leaping onto the column, using it to launch himself over the creature. At the apex of his jump, he twisted to face the ceiling.
"Liquefy," he commanded, targeting the stone directly above the creature.
The ceiling melted into a thick, tar-like substance that poured down onto the rolling mass.
As gravity pulled Lucien back toward the floor, he pushed Elaine off with telekinesis, tucked into a tight roll, coming up behind the now-struggling creature - pulling Elaine, who was screaming in fear, back onto his back - as it fought against the viscous stone encasing it.
"Now!" Lucien shouted.
Vader drove his lightsaber into the trapped mass from one side while Lucien thrust his hand forward from the other.
The creature was caught between searing plasma and telekinetic force, its body compressing until something vital ruptured inside.
It exploded outward, showering the corridor with fragments of bone and tissue.
Lucien wiped black ichor from his face, chest heaving. Not from exertion - he wasn't even tired - but from the rush of combat.
He glanced at Vader, who stood with lightsaber still humming, mechanical breathing unchanged.
The momentary lull shattered as the floor beneath them trembled. Cracks spread in a spiderweb pattern, stone grinding against stone as the castle itself reshaped around them.
"Jump!" Lucien shouted, already in motion.
He and Vader leapt simultaneously as the floor gave way beneath them. Lucien caught a hanging chandelier, swinging his body to build momentum before releasing at the apex.
He sailed through the air, tucking into a roll as he landed on a balcony overlooking what had been the corridor.
Below, the floor had transformed into a pit of writhing, spike-covered tentacles emerging from a pool of bubbling black liquid. The stench of acid and decay wafted upward, burning Lucien's nostrils despite his distance.
Vader landed beside him, cape settling around his armored form.
"They're still playing with us," Lucien muttered, analysing, adjusting his grip on his child-body. "Testing our capabilities."
He looked down at the black blood still staining his hands from the nightcreatures he'd destroyed.
Without hesitation, Lucien brought his bloodied fingers to his mouth and licked them clean. The effect was immediate - more power surged through him like lightning, making everything about him stronger.
'This is... incredible,' he thought, flexing his fingers as new strength flowed through them. 'No wonder Stefan is addicted to blood.'
A door at the end of the balcony burst open. Three nightcreatures entered, these different from the others - their movements more coordinated, eyes gleaming with intelligence rather than bestial rage.
The central figure, taller than the others, raised its hand.
Fire erupted from its palm, not as wild flames but as a concentrated jet that cut through the air.
Lucien for a moment was surprised, eyes widening as he dropped to one knee, the fire passing overhead close enough to singe his hair. The heat was intense enough to crack the stone wall behind him.
Vader stepped forward, lightsaber angled to intercept a second blast. The fire split around the energy blade, diverted to either side but not extinguished.
Lucien rolled sideways, coming up in a crouch. He noted the creatures' positioning - a triangle formation with overlapping fields of protection.
Their movements mirrored each other, covering blind spots automatically.
'These are different,' he thought. 'Coordinated. Trained.'
The fire-wielder inhaled deeply, chest expanding. Lucien recognized the wind-up for a more powerful attack. He planted his feet, right hand extended.
"Reflect," he commanded as the creature exhaled a torrent of flame.
The fire hit an invisible barrier before Lucien, swirling for a moment before redirecting back at its source.
"Double," Lucien ordered.
The torrent instantly became twice the size. The creature shrieked as its own flames consumed it, its body blackening and crumbling to ash in seconds.
The remaining two creatures didn't hesitate. One melted into a puddle of silver liquid that flowed across the floor fast.
The other grew crystalline spikes across its body, light refracting through them to create disorienting patterns.
"They're not holding back anymore," Lucien said, backing up a step- having earlier reasoned the possibility, but now being completely sure of the fact.
Vader moved to intercept the crystal creature, lightsaber slashing in a diagonal arc. To their surprise, the blade skittered off the crystalline surface, leaving only a scorch mark.
The creature laughed - a sound like breaking glass - before counterattacking with a barrage of crystal shards launched from its body.
Lucien thrust out his hand, creating a telekinetic shield that stopped the projectiles mid-air. The silver liquid creature, meanwhile, had reformed behind him, solidifying into a humanoid shape with blade-like appendages.
"Behind!" Elaine cried suddenly.
Lucien spun just in time to avoid a decapitating strike, the blade passing close enough to his neck that he felt the air displacement. He dropped into a low stance, sweeping his leg in an arc that should have taken the creature's feet from under it.
Instead, his foot passed through the semi-liquid form, throwing him off balance. The creature's arm morphed into a spike that drove toward Elaine.
Vader's lightsaber intercepted the attack, the plasma blade cauterizing the liquid metal instantly. The creature shrieked, pulling back its injured limb as it reformed into something more substantial.
Lucien regained his footing, assessing their situation.
The balcony offered limited mobility, and more nightcreatures were approaching from both ends of the corridor.
He and Vader stood back to back, Elaine still clinging to him, his child-body clutched protectively against his chest.
'We can't keep fighting like this,' Lucien thought, feeling the weight of Elaine on his back, the vulnerability of his original body in his arms.
'I need more power. More freedom of movement. The wings were fun, but it kept me still exposed in a sense- Vader now here, can at least watch my back while on the ground...'
A nightcreature with multiple mouths lunged at him. Lucien sidestepped, bringing his knee up into what passed for its abdomen.
As it doubled over, he grabbed its throat, squeezing until something crunched beneath his fingers. Black blood pulsed over his hand.
Without thinking, he brought the blood to his mouth, drinking deeply.
'This is what we need,' he realized, feeling strength build with each swallow. 'If Dracula's sending these things as fodder, I might as well use them.'
The crystal creature charged Vader again, its body reconfigured into a spiked battering ram. Vader held his ground, lightsaber braced in both hands.
The impact sent him sliding backward several feet, boots scraping against stone, but he remained standing.
Lucien looked at the approaching horde, then at Elaine and his child-body.
A decision formed in his mind.
"I need to put you somewhere safe," he told Elaine, his tone leaving no room for argument. "This isn't working."
"What?!" Elaine screamed in surprise and fear, at the thought of being left alone.
He backed toward the balcony's edge, eyes scanning the chamber below.
The acid pit had receded, replaced by solid floor once more.
A shift in the castle's configuration - one he could use.
"Please, don't leave me alone out here!" Elaine begged.
"Hold on," Lucien warned, ignoring her plea, before leaping over the balcony rail.
They dropped twenty feet, Lucien absorbing the impact with bent knees. Vader followed, his cape billowing as he descended with inhuman grace.
Lucien set his child-body gently on the floor, then helped Elaine dismount from his back. Her legs trembled as she stood, eyes wide with fear but also determination.
"What's the plan?" she asked - trying to keep calm and trust him - her voice barely above a whisper.
"Getting you to safety," Lucien replied, scanning the chamber. "Vader, buy us time."
The Qareen nodded once before launching himself at the nightcreatures now descending from the balcony. His lightsaber became a crimson blur, cutting through the first wave.
Lucien placed his hand on the stone floor, closing his eyes briefly to concentrate. He could feel this part of castle's structure through the Force, its layout shifting constantly but with patterns he could discern.
'There,' he thought, sensing a large open space above them. 'Perfect.'
He looked at Elaine, then at his child-body. "I'm going to create a safe place for you both. From there, you can watch without being in danger."
"What about you?" she asked.
"I'll fight better knowing you're protected," he answered truthfully.
Lucien gathered his child-body in one arm, then wrapped the other around Elaine's waist. "Rise," he commanded.
The three of them lifted from the floor, ascending toward the vaulted ceiling. Twenty feet up, Lucien paused their ascent.
"Separate," he ordered gently, and Elaine and his child-body drifted away from him, suspended in mid-air.
"Sphere," he continued, extending his hand toward them.
Air condensed around Elaine and his body, forming a perfectly transparent bubble that solidified into an impenetrable barrier.
Within the sphere, Lucien created a comfortable environment - a soft floor, regulated temperature, and most importantly, protection.
"Sustain," he commanded, ensuring the air within would remain fresh indefinitely.
"Nourish," he added, creating a small supply of water and simple food within reach.
"Comfort," he finished, adjusting the temperature and creating a soft surface for them to rest on.
Elaine pressed her hands against the transparent barrier, eyes wide with wonder despite her fear. "How long will this last?" she asked, voice slightly muffled by the sphere.
"Until I release it - I used a lot of power on it." Lucien assured her.
He descended back to the floor, where Vader continued to hold off the nightcreature horde. The Qareen had created a perimeter of fallen enemies, their bodies forming a grotesque barrier that the others had to climb over to reach him.
Lucien landed beside his shadow self, surveying the battlefield. Below, the nightcreatures continued to pour into the chamber - dozens, then hundreds, filling the space like a tide of twisted flesh and bone.
"You'll be safe up there," Lucien called to Elaine. "Just sit tight and..." a smile spread across his face, "...enjoy the show."
'Now, time to regain the 70% I just used.'
With a sweeping gesture, Lucien commanded: "Rise."
The black blood from hundreds of fallen nightcreatures lifted from the floor, swirling into a massive vortex that spiraled around him like a macabre galaxy. The nightcreatures still living backed away - actually letting him.
"Come," he whispered, opening his mouth as the blood began to flow into him - not a trickle but a torrent, a river of power pouring down his throat.
'This is exactly what I needed,' he thought, surveying the remaining horde with. 'Dracula's basically running a power-leveling service for me. Thanks for the free EXP, Count.'
He flexed his fingers, feeling new abilities awakening with each infusion.
The rational part of his mind knew they should be moving toward an exit, but the strategist in him - at least, that's how he justified it - recognized the opportunity presented.
'You don't skip the side quests when they offer this kind of reward,' he mused, eyeing a particularly large nightcreature. 'Besides, Dracula's ancient. Millennia of experience. I'd be an idiot to face him without maxing out my stats first.'
With more power surging through him, Lucien rolled his shoulders.
"Now," he said, flexing his fingers as black blood continued to orbit him like a macabre solar system, "let's see what a this body can really do when It's used by someone who knows what to do with it.."
He closed his eyes, drawing on Stefan's instinctual knowledge.
The transformation began at his fingertips - skin dissolving into smoke, then reforming as dozens of tiny bats that fluttered away from where his hands had been.
The process spread up his arms, across his chest, his entire body unraveling into a swarm of chittering creatures.
Within seconds, where Lucien had stood was now a cloud of bats - hundreds of them, each with gleaming red eyes, each connected to his consciousness.
The nightcreatures hesitated, confused by this new thing. That hesitation cost them dearly.
The swarm surged forward with a screech, engulfing the nearest nightcreature.
Hundreds of tiny mouths latched onto its body, each drawing blood, each connected to Lucien's hunger.
The creature thrashed as it was exsanguinated in seconds, its struggles growing weaker until it collapsed, a desiccated husk.
But simply being a vampire swarm wasn't enough. Not anymore. Not with the power surging through him, begging for expression.
Through the collective mouths of his bat-form, Lucien spoke a single command:
"Multiply."
Each bat instantly split into ten, the swarm growing exponentially. Hundreds became thousands, thousands became tens of thousands, until the chamber was filled with a living darkness of beating wings and hungry mouths.
The nightcreatures tried to flee, but there was nowhere to go.
The bat swarm pursued them through corridors, into chambers, down stairwells - a relentless tide of hunger and purpose.
As the last of the nearby creatures fell, the swarm began to converge, thousands of bats spiraling together into a single point. The air crackled with energy as Lucien enacted his final transformation.
"Evolve," he commanded.
The bats melded together, growing, reshaping into something ancient and terrible. Wings expanded to a thirty-foot span, scales hardened into armor, and a serpentine neck extended, crowned with a horned head.
"GRAAAAAAUUURRRHHH-SKRRRRAAAAGH!!!"
Where the bat swarm had been, a massive black dragon now stood - roaring. Lucien had become the apex predator of myth - a being of fire and darkness.
The remaining nightcreatures froze, their instincts recognizing their superior. Some broke from their paralysis, scrambling desperately for exits that suddenly seemed too small, too distant.
Lucien's massive head swung toward a cluster of fleeing creatures.
He inhaled deeply, chest expanding, heat building in his throat. When he exhaled, it wasn't mere fire but a concentrated inferno that turned stone molten and nightcreatures to ash in an instant.
The blast left a glowing trench carved through the castle floor, bodies still burning along its path.
With surprising agility for his enormous size, Lucien launched himself across the chamber.
His talons, each as long as a massive sword, closed around a larger nightcreature that had been directing the others.
The beast shrieked as Lucien's grip tightened, scales slicing through its hardened skin like paper.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed the creature into the air, then batted it with his tail, sending it crashing through a stone pillar.
'This is what it feels like to be at the top of the food chain,' Lucien thought, euphoria flooding through him as he tore through the horde.
A group of elemental nightcreatures combined their powers, launching a concentrated stream of ice toward his face.
Lucien didn't bother dodging. The attack shattered harmlessly against his scales, ice crystals melting instantly from the heat radiating from his body.
In response though, he swept his tail in a wide arc, catching a dozen creatures and crushing them against the wall.
Without pausing, he brought one massive clawed foot down on another group, feeling bodies break beneath his weight.
As nightcreatures fell around him, their black blood pooled on the floor in expanding puddles. Lucien extended one talon, using Force telekinesis.
The blood responded instantly to his will, rising from the ground in twisting ribbons that converged into a thick stream.
He opened his massive jaws, directing the blood flow into his mouth without physically touching it.
The taste was delicious, and the power it contained was immense.
Later, he bit into a horde of monsters and spat out their flesh while keeping their blood inside his mouth with the Force.
He made sure to not consume the flesh of the creatures, finding the thought repulsive even in this form, but their essence, their power, that he devoured eagerly.
With each influx of blood, his draconic form grew stronger.
His scales hardened further, taking on an obsidian sheen that reflected the torchlight more.
The heat in his chest burned hotter, flames licking between his teeth when he exhaled. His wings, already massive, expanded further, creating windstorms when he beat them against the air.
A particularly brave - or foolish - nightcreature leapt onto his back, claws scrabbling for purchase between his armored scales.
Lucien felt the impact as little more than an itch. He rolled suddenly, crushing the creature against the floor before rising again in one fluid motion.
As the battle continued, Lucien found himself enjoying this form more and more.
There was something liberating about the simplicity of it - see threat, destroy threat, consume power.
Nothing complex, just action, and power.
"GRAAAAAAUUURRRHHH-SKRRRRAAAAGH!!!"
The dragon that was Lucien roared once more in triumph, wings extended to their full span as he surveyed the devastation below.
Thousands of nightcreatures lay in various states of destruction - some charred by dragon fire, others crushed beneath massive claws, many simply drained of their essence.
Blood continued to flow upward in steady streams, feeding his insatiable hunger.
'This power...' he thought, reveling in the sensation. 'No wonder dragons are apex predators in basically every mythology.'
He inhaled deeply, preparing to unleash another torrent of flame on the remaining nightcreatures, when something happened.
A weight landed on his back, between his massive shoulder blades.
Lucien's serpentine neck twisted, draconic eyes widening in shock as they met the calm, amused gaze of Dracula himself.
The vampire lord stood casually on Lucien's back as if taking an evening stroll, his long black hair untouched by the chaos below, his features arranged in a slight smirk.
"Thanks for preparing my meal, dear cook," Dracula said pleasantly before plunging his fangs into the dragon's neck.
Pain lanced through Lucien's body.
"GRAAAAHAAAAAUUUUUHHHHHHH!" He roared in rage and pain, the sound shaking the castle foundations, and twisted violently, trying to dislodge the vampire lord.
Dracula held fast, drinking deeply, his grip unbreakable despite Lucien's thrashing.
After what seemed an eternity but was likely only seconds, Lucien managed to throw him off, sending Dracula flying through the air.
The vampire lord landed gracefully on the floor below, not a hair out of place. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a look of satisfaction on his face.
Lucien felt his draconic form destabilizing, power draining away like water through cupped hands.
The transformation reversed - scales receding, wings shrinking, body contracting until he stood in Stefan's form once more, shirtless and covered in blood, wearing only black pants.
He clutched his neck, feeling the puncture wounds where Dracula had bitten him. "What the hell did you just do?" he demanded, voice hoarse. "How did you drink my blood? I didn't give you permission."
Dracula chuckled, the sound growing into a full-bodied laugh that echoed through the chamber. "My boy," he said, gesturing expansively, "you made it so I no longer needed permission."
He began pacing, each step deliberate and graceful. "By drinking so much filth-" he gestured to the nightcreature remains, "-you diluted your own holy blood enough that my body's resistance to divine power was sufficient to digest it.
Your corruption that was your means of escape became your own weakness, as it made you addicted to the dark magic inside that body."
His smile widened, revealing teeth still stained red. "And now, I have grown stronger than ever!"
As if to demonstrate, Dracula threw his arms wide.
An aura of crimson power erupted around him, expanding outward in a shockwave that blasted away the remaining nightcreatures.
The very air seemed to bend around him, distorting like heat waves above asphalt.
In her protective sphere, Elaine pressed herself against the far side, eyes wide with terror. Even Vader braced himself, lightsaber held defensively before him.
Lucien raised his arm to shield his face, feet sliding backward despite his effort to stand firm. "Shit," he muttered, realizing how completely he'd been outplayed- having been played like a fiddle.
------------------------
Miles away, a group moved carefully through thick fog, their forms barely visible in the hazy grayness.
The ground beneath their feet was barren and cracked, occasional pools of sulfurous liquid bubbling ominously.
"This is disgusting," Rebekah complained, lifting her designer boots over a particularly noxious puddle. "Couldn't the ancient cities of sin have been destroyed somewhere with better climate?"
"What were you expecting, sister?" Kol replied with a smirk. "A pleasant stroll through paradise? These are the remains of God's wrath."
"Must you two bicker constantly?" Finn's voice cut through the fog, irritation evident in every syllable. "We are traversing hallowed ground."
"Hallowed is hardly the word I would use," Elijah interjected diplomatically. "Perhaps we should focus on our purpose here rather than the accommodations."
At the center of their group walked Elena, her eyes glowing electric blue, a barrier of light surrounding them all. Klaus walked beside her, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder.
"You're doing marvelously, love," he encouraged, gently ruffling her hair. "Just a bit further and we'll find our wayward boy."
Trevor Belmont brought up the rear, his hand never far from the coiled whip at his side. His eyes scanned the fog continuously, watching for threats that might emerge from the sulfurous mists.
The barrier of light surrounding them pulsed slightly as they continued forward, illuminating their path through the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah toward the distant silhouette of Dracula's castle.
------------------------
(Author note: Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
Do tell me how you found it.
So... How will Lucien get out of this predicament.
Or, or, has he not been playing all his cards yet?
If so... what?
Okay- seriously, like come on, this one should be obvious.
If it isn't though- I'll answer if you question.
Well, I hope to see you all later my dear friends,
Bye!)