Chapter 21
I pulled my sword from the dead vampire and stepped over him to the large winding staircase. Halfway up the stairs, I heard a muted scream from somewhere on the first floor, but I resumed my silent climb to the second floor. The others would handle whatever was happening down here. I had a more important mission to tend to.
The vampire came at me as soon as my foot touched the landing. He was fast, but not as fast as I was, and I sliced him across the midsection before he could reach me.
He cried out and grabbed at his stomach as he stumbled backward. Hate blazed in his eyes as I advanced on him. He turned to run, and I decapitated him before he took a step. His body crumpled to the floor as his head rolled down the stairs.
I looked both ways at the row of closed doors on th
