My scream is bloodcurdling, not from the fall or the massive explosion, but the agony of knowing my husband was up there. Nick! What about Nick?! I had seconds before I died myself and I close my eyes tears being pulled from me. God I was so sure we would win, but here I was just milliseconds from death. How did I ever think I'd truly discover the Phantasma, but less stop it? I was nobody, and this just proved it. The wind whipping around me, as I whisper my loves name one last time.

I slam into something hard. But it had give and I gasp, my eyes snapping open. It was Igor, panting as he looks down at me, then back up at the explosion that seemed to go on and on. I was stunned as he turns and roars at someone. My ears were ringing from the percussion of the explosion, my ears bleeding as Igor stands up with me in his arms, continuing to yell. Looking around, I see chaos erupting as sound comes back to me, my eardrums healing, and Igor yells out to all around us, "Get to the Templar, its safe there!"

More explosions come and Igor pulls me close and the heat blasts around us. I yell out, "Nick!"

"Calm down!" Igor roars as I struggle to get out of his arms.

It was no use Igor was so much stronger, and he pulls me against him hard, his face mere inches from mine, as he snarl in command, "Stop it! Now run!"

He drops my feet to the ground, and we start running. I see Ki grabbing at another Night Hunter who had tumbled during the explosion and I scream, "I'm not leaving without Nick, he has to be alive!"

"He's alive you useless bitten, you bondmark still remains! Now come!" Igor yanked me forward, as if I could stop him.

My breaths came out in heaving gasps, as he comes up to a sleek looking Mercedes, opens it, and practically shoving me in. Ki was opening the back and unceremoniously throwing the other night hunter in. Tears streaked down my face as I turn and look out the window at the burning inferno that was the building I had just been in. As we start to drive away the whole structure begins disintegrating before my eyes. It last gasping of the collosal being the shaking of the earth. Dante had thrown me! He had...save me. That sad look, he knew what was about to happen. He knew!

Turning I say, "Dante saved me."

Ki says from the back, stanching a bloody gash on the other night hunters side, "Yes, Igor received a message from Dante to come to the party entrance to meet him. Somethin about explosive new details on the Phantasma."

"Talk aout explosive," the other night hunter slurs.

"We just didn't expect you to fall from the sky," Igor growls, that once mechanical cold voice gone as the city turned to chaos.

Another explosion rocks the car, and the windows explode inward. I yelp, but look up as I see the city slowly turning into an inferno. The other Night Hunter croaks out, "The... the city is breached."

The silence in the car as it squealed down a side street towards the Nights Templar was deadly as Ki asks sharply, "What do you mean?"

"I was coming from the south entrance, they are everywhere."

"They who?" Igor asks, that calm back in his voice, more command then mechanical.

"Ghoul...thousands of them."

That was all the confirmation we needed. The Silent Phantasma was here and Igor says, face calm even as he drove like a madman, "We must get all we can out of the city." Just as he said this, he hit a ghoul and the Mercedes spins out, crashing into a building.

It felt like minutes until I came to and saw a ghoul looking down at me with it's black eyes. The backdrop of red made me worry I was now truly in hell, until I see a flash of silver and the head of the ghoul does sailing away in a splash of black blood. Gasping out, I look up to see Igor standing over the body as he says, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

I must have been ejected from the car as it spun. I look around at the destruction and here the screams and howls of the ghoul beyond. Ki now carried the lifeless body of the other Night Hunter and says, "We are two blocks from the Templar."

"Let's go, but first," Igor says, looking down at me. In a flash his sword sings out and I cry out, closing my eyes.

Instead of feeling the bite of silver, I look down to see he had sliced off half of the skirt of my dress as he says, "Now you must run."

Running to the Night Templar with Igor and Ki as explosions happen, my mind goes back to those last words Dante had said once again, "It will be your undoing."

Never had I felt those words more. Dante was right, he had known what was about to happen. He had known before he had even arrived at the party. All this he knew and I knew from his stillness he knew everything, all the way down to where Zoran was. But what scared me the most was the fact he knew he wouldn't be able to escape the Silent Phantasma. Igor had a vice grip on his sword and the sheath of the cane, both flashing in the world exploding around us. The ground rumbled under us at each explosion. Other vampire ran along side us towards the Templar.

When we round the corner, we all come to stop. Ghoul were covering the Night's Templar. Ki whispers softly, "Oh god, what do we do?"

From my peripheral vision, I see Igor start walking towards the Templar as another vampire calls out, "Are you insane!? There is no way you can take on that many ghoul!"

Igor doesn't even respond, simply starts whistling an eerie tune and Ki's face goes still and I ask, "What is he do-" but the words die on my lips as it felt like a void had opened up and I gasp out, feeling my stomach flop inside of me.

My eyes turn back to Igor and it was like seeing death as he flashed towards the hoard of ghoul turn to him and rush towards him. His sword flashes out and as if the creatures weren't even there they turn to ash, falling like exploding leaves. The feeling of a void disappears and Ki says, "To see that again brings back some memories."

"Wh-what was that?"

Ki gives a rye grin and chuckle before answering, "That's E getting warmed up."

Igor turns to us an says, "Come they haven't broken through to the sanctum yet."

The howls of ghoul coming our way trigger us into action as Igor opens the heavy doors. One of the B ranked vampires among the group whispers, face covered in soot and ash, "I have heard it took four Purebloods to open that door."

Igor steps aside and calls out, "Everyone inside before the horde comes. Ki prepare for a fight should everyone not come in in time."

Ki shoves the unconscious Night Hunter against me and says, "Get inside, find a Night Hunter you know and prepare for a fight."

Then I watch as the sweet, quirky Ki's demeanor change in a seconds, like an ice cloak covering him. His red eyes seems to glow as he stepped out towards the front steps, pulling those daggers of his. Standing there next to Igor it was like looking at night and day, each ready for battle as I turn and drag the man inside. Inside the sanctum of the Night's Templar I am surprised at how dead it is. Not a single soul like the day previously and I call out, as do other vampire around me.

That is until I hear a sound and look to see several Night Hunters run from an open doorway, faces covered in blood. One yells, "The Templar is breached."

It felt as if the world came crashing down as the howls at the entrance and sound of fighting started. Dropping the unconscious Night Hunter in the others arms, I ask, "Where?"

"Underground. I'm not sure. We have blocked off the doorway, but I fear it may be too late. All the Night Hunters in the Sanctum were evacuated that way. We were staying behind to wait for the Hunter Supreme."

"Hunter Supreme?"

"Igor, where is he?" The younger looking of the two say, trying to wipe blood and gore from his face.

"He's at the entrance fighting off - I begin until I hear the resounding sound of the doors booming shut.

Looking back, I feel dread start to pull at my insides. We were stuck, like a fish on a hook. There had to be at least two, maybe three hundred vampire taking sanctuary. Quickly picking my way through the crowd, I find Igor and Ki. Both looked fine, though black blood splattered their faces and I could see Ki was breathing a little heavily. Igor looks my way and says, "Where is everyone?"

"One of the Night Hunters said the Templar has been breached from below. They don't know how long their barrier will hold, but... we are stuck."

Ki looked mortified, that icy calm of battle gone as he says, "Not possible."

"Anything is possible. This is the Silent Phantasma's doing, and if anything we were all sitting ducks."

Ki nods, rubbing his chin in thought and says, "More like fish in a barrel. The Phantasma must have known when under threat all vampire return to Kotawa for safety and to convene a counsel once a clan is decimated."

"Yes, I just didn't expect it to happen this quickly," Igor says coolly, looking around the all the souls in the room.

"What do we do?" I ask, hearing the boom of bodies hitting the doors behind them.

Chills ran down my body, knowing time was ticking for us all. Igor suddenly reaches out, wiping something from my face before turning to Ki and says, "My study, let's go."

I brush at where he had touched and realize I must have scratched my face at some point and blood had dripped down it. But why? I shake my head and follow after Igor and Ki as they call for the rest of the group to follow them. Igor flashes his sword, black oil like blood splashing the black marble and returns it to the sheath as we move down wide halls deeper in a place I knew few vampire got to see. There were general hushed whispers as the beauty of the place, the gold and bronze fixtures and the glow of the marble. Despite the rumble beyond it's walls, this place was untouched.

Finally we come to a large double door with an insignia on its intricate design and a A rank next to me in the colors of the Elric's clan whispers, "The Bearer of Knowledges study. To think I'd live to see this."

Igor's jaw ticks for a moment and then he opens the door. It was a library of a study, with books stacked everywhere and a wide desk covered in papers. But instead of heading to the desk, he goes to a tapastry and pulls it back to reveal a door as he says to the room, "It is a Night Hunters duty never to be trapped, this will take us outside of Kotawa and onto the ice above. Daybreak is in six hours, if you run quickly, you will make it to the surface in an hour, and three hours to McMurdo Station. Go."

With that everyone starts to stream towards the doorway, but before I can step through Igor grabs me and pulls me aside. As he does I notice that strange film go up between myself and the world beyond and he murmurs, "Do you really believe the Phantasma is after you?"

"At this point, I don't know."

"Zoran is behind this? Are you telling me the truth?"

His black eyes were no longer soulless, but seemed to be piercing into me, searching. I couldn't feel his mind battering mine. He was simply asking and I nod. "I have proof."

"Where?"

"It's in the library."

His eyes close at this as he lets out a hiss. Looking over my shoulder he murmurs, "I need proof to believe you. If you so me that proof I will insure you survive this."

I wanted to blurt out that I knew he had something to do with the Silent Phantasma. But then I remind myself he came running to the party. He hadn't known about the blast, but could that be considered acting? Instead I simply nod. The film between us and the world disappears as Igor says to Ki from across the doorway as people run past, "We must get to the library."

"What?!"

"Nina has proof of who is leading the Phantasma and we will need it to gather forces."

Ki lets out a groan and says, "That's half way across the city!"

Another rumble comes and howls echo. The ghoul had finally breached the Templar. The last person rushes through the doorway and Igor shuts the door behind them with a resounding click. The tapestry falls and I look up at it, a bloody battle and among it was a roaring dragon of white. Igor says coldly, "This will be a battle, but it must be done."

Grim determination filled me as I watch Igor shuck off his jacket, pick up his cane and pull the blade out. Ki chuckles before saying, "Just like old times my friend."