Serana and Stefan sprinted silently up the hill and joined Valeria and Lilith. They threw themselves against the wall.
"Lucinda is in the prison," said Stefan quietly. "It's over there."
He pointed a smaller keep to their left.
"Come on," he said.
They crept along the grounds, silently moving in the darkness towards the prison building. They reached the door. Stefan tried it. It was locked. He pulled out a lockpick from his boot and carefully inserted into the lock.
"Keep watch," he asked to the others.
They others turned to face the opposite direction, looking around the deserted grounds. He turned the lockpick gently. It began to shake. He turned it carefully in the opposite direction.
He felt the lockpick beginning to judder once more. He moved it gingerly in an anti-clockwise direction. He moved it carefully. Serana turned and watched him silently. The lock clicked. He removed the lockpick and opened the door.
"Let's go," he said.
He lead them into the prison, down the stairs and gently onto the uneven stone floor. Stefan had walked this route before, he knew exactly where to go. The stopped at the bottom of the stairs. The guard was awake. Stefan held out his arm. His companions clattered into it.
"Shh," he said putting a finger to his lips and pointing to the guard.
"Let me," said Serana.
She touched his arm lovingly. She stood next to him and cast the calm spell. He glowed a deep pink colour and a large smile split across his face. He then stood up and left the room. Where he was going, they neither knew or cared. All that mattered was that he was gone. Stefan smiled at Serana who flashed her fangs at him.
He checked to make sure the coast was clear. It was. He lead them across the open plan dungeon towards Lucinda's cell. He could see that she was still there. Her back was to the bars and she was asleep.
"Lucinda," called Serana. She touched the bars and received a huge electric shock.
"Ow!" she cried. "What is that?"
"Lightning rune mother," said Lucinda. It seemed that the sparks had woken her up. "But still, it's nice to see you."
She beamed at her mother. Her mother beamed back at her. It was like each of them were looking in the mirror, their features were almost identical.
"Hello Lucinda," said Valeria smiling at her.
"Little sister," said Lucinda affectionately. "I see you made some more silver arrows.
"How are we going to get you out of here?" asked Serana cutting in the reunion.
"I was thinking the same thing," said Lucinda. "I'm led to believe that either the guard of Farkas has the counter spell."
"Farkas?" asked Stefan looking at his daughter. He was studying the cell, trying to find the weak spot.
"Yes," confirmed Lucinda. "He's their leader. He gave me a speech about how me and him are going to do great things together. I'm not likely to forget him."
"I should have known," said Stefan shaking his head.
"Known what?" asked Serana.
"Now is not the time for a soliloquy," said Stefan. "We need to get her out of here."
"Do you know where Farkas is?" asked Stefan.
"No," replied Lucinda. "I've only seen this part of the castle. I would guess he is in the main keep."
"Good enough," replied Stefan.
He turned to his companions.
"Lilith," he commanded. "Please stay and guard Lucinda. Me, Serana and Valeria are going to find Farkas."
"Do I get to do some torturing?" asked Valeria excitedly.
"Torturing?" asked Lucinda.
"Yes," said Valeria. "Father made me a deal."
"Humph," said Lucinda in mock anger folding her arms. "I'm locked in a cell and you have the chance to torture some werewolves."
"Sorry sister," said Valeria.
"I forgive you," said Lucinda smiling. "Give them a big jolt from me."
Valeria flashed her fangs at her. In a way that was identical to her mother. She then allowed herself to be lead away by her parents. In front of them they could see the guard. He was no longer smiling and was returning to his post. In one movement, Stefan bolted across the room and pinned him firmly against the wall.
"Get off me blood sucker," he snarled.
Stefan fired an ice spike in his face.
"There are ladies in the house," he said. "Where are your manners?"
The guard was silent.
"Where's the spell to reverse the lightning rune?" asked Stefan.
"I don't know," replied the guard.
Stefan turned to look at his comrades.
"Do you believe this guy?" he asked.
Valeria and Serana stood looking at him with their arms folded, resembling twin sisters. They shook their heads in refusal.
Stefan released the guard. He then grabbed him and threw him across the room. The guard flew across the room and landed painfully on the stone floor.
Valeria drew a silver arrow, she loaded into her bow and pointed it at the guard. He looked up. His eyes focussed on the arrow, making his positively cross-eyed.
"I wonder if werewolves are immune to silver?" asked Valeria threateningly tilting her head to one side. "Either you can tell us where the spell is, or I can fire this arrow through your eye and learn if silver can kill a werewolf."
The guard looked up at her.
"I don't know," he said.
"I'm sure you don't," she said.
She fired her arrow. It flew through the air and landed dead centre of the guards arm. That was intentional. She hadn't planned to kill him. However, the arrow was tipped with stunning potion. He keeled over stiff as a board on the floor.
Stefan stepped forward and rifled through his pockets. He pulled out a scroll. He unrolled it to reveal the counter spell for the lightning rune.
"There we are," said Stefan.
He looked down at the guard to see he was starting to come round. However, it seemed that he wasn't a werewolf. Just a regular mortal.
They dashed back to Lucinda. Lilith stood guard next to the cell, flanking it with her dagger raised. Stefan read the contents of the scroll. The lightning rune dissipated. Lucinda raised her boot and kicked the cell door. It swung clean off its hinges and clattered to the floor. At once Valeria shoved Stefan aside and hugged her sister tightly.
"I knew you'd miss me," said Lucinda as her sister hugged her.
They hugged in silence for a moment.
"What's the plan?" asked Lucinda looking around at her rescuers.
"We'll tell you outside," said Stefan. "It's too dangerous to reveal our plans here."
Lucinda cast Telepathy. A steel short sword flew across the room and into her outstretched hand. Suddenly the guard came bounding into the room. He drew his battle axe.
"Prison break!" he called. "The prisoner is..."
He was unable to complete his sentence. Lucinda had raced forwards and shoved the sword into his stomach. The guard made a noise of discomfort as she withdrew the sword. He clutched his bleeding stomach, looked up at Lucinda and fell into a heap on the floor.
"How did you know he was mortal?" asked Stefan.
Lucinda pointed to her sister.
"She has silver arrows, and he's still alive," replied Lucinda.
"How did you know I shot him?" asked Valeria.
Lucinda pointed to the point of the arrow. The guard had tried to pull it out but had left the point embedded into his skin.
"Now," began Lucinda. "Can we get out of here?"
"Yes," said Serana. "Let's go."
The smell of blood wafted up Lucinda's nose. It reminded her of her coming of age day. The only one time she had ever drank human blood. Every young vampire must drink on their 20th birthday to complete the coming of age ritual. After not eating for two days, the smell made her extremely hungry.
Her companions turned to leave but Lucinda couldn't resist any more. She placed the sword on the floor. She kneeled on the floor and bent over the body. She extended her fangs and hissed loudly. Her eyes glowed a bright blood red she sunk her fangs into his neck. The others watched her in shock and surprise as she fed. The blood ran down her throat, warm and life giving. The taste was irresistible. She drank and drank, how much she couldn't be sure.
After what seemed like an eternity she had her fill and pulled out her fangs. She stood up wiping her mouth as her fangs shrunk back into her mouth.
"Vampires," said a voice. "You never change."
Lucinda turned around to see Farkas staring at her. Her companions turned at the exact same moment, fixing their eyes on him.