Orange petals of flame bloomed in the distance- that was his distraction. Lance launched himself into a sprint. There were, as far as he could tell, no security systems on the castle exterior. Not in the modern sense, at least.
The door itself looked sturdy though, and he didn't dare stop to try and open it lest it prove to be locked. As he ran, he called on his mutant power. The ground around him started to shake, and he thrust his hands out. The thick wooden door cracked and splintered, falling in two as he reached it.
The hallway within was pitch dark. He supposed that that didn't present a problem for the vampires, but it was going to make navigating it quite a problem for him. He closed his eyes and knelt, pressing one palm to the ground.
"No reason this shouldn't work," he muttered. He sent a very weak tremor into the stone floor, concentrating on the sensation of it travelling through the castle. Another tremor followed, and another, every closer together, until the entire castle was imperceptibly shaking.
Lance had time enough to learn three things. The first was that there was a single room in the catacombs beneath the castle filled with softly humming and whirring equipment; presumably this was the laboratory.
The second was a rough idea of what path he needed to follow to get there, but he couldn't be certain because…
The third was that, swiftly and silently, something was headed straight down the corridor towards him!
Lance dove to the side. His attacker had apparently not expected the movement, and something sharp and cold tore his shirt and drew a line of sharp pain across his chest, but no more than that.
He lashed out with his powers, making the floor jerk and buck in an attempt to smash his assailant against the stone ceiling. For a moment he was unsure if he had succeeded. Then something struck him in the back of the head. He pitched forward, stretched across the floor. It rolled under him as he frantically drew on his power again, and a sharp chip of stone cut his cheek as his assailant struck the floor where he had just been.
He remained on the floor, trying to extend his senses again, but there was no time before a viselike grip closed on his throat, lifting him bodily off the ground. He choked and struggled to draw breath, as sparks of light started to appear in his eyes.
His head swam as he clenched his fist. His other hand groped blindly forward, closing on his attacker's collarbone. The other screamed as Lance once more called upon his power, and the bone under his hand bent and shattered apart.
Lance hit the ground hard as he was dropped, and slowly and painfully climbed back to his feet. His attacker was on the ground in front of him- between him and the door he had come through. Panting, gasping for breath, he leaned on the wall, and sent a tremor through the ceiling, collapsing a small part of it onto his attacker.
Then he turned, and ran down the corridor in the direction of the laboratory.