"Ben! The wardrobe! Hurry!" breathless, Kaylee ran to the opposite wall of the small patient room and rummaged with trembling fingers in her paraphilia bag.

Benjamin immediately followed the request. The hands of the soldier reached for the wood of the simple piece of furniture, and with a heavy groan, he pulled it forward and then threw it, clattering to the side. The wardrobe tipped over, pulled down by gravity, and crashed against the door with a loud bang. A few bedspreads fell out, and the wood cracked and burst in some places under the forceful handling.

At that moment, something slammed against the thick wooden door with a loud bang. The sound made their ears ring, and the frame and wood shook, cracked and groaned under the impact.

"Crowford! Whatever you're planning to do, do it quickly!" the doctor shouted, throwing himself desperately against the wardrobe to stabilise the barricade. He felt the force of the impact from the other side while a screeching and hissing sound echoed through towards them. It sounded as if wild beasts were rampaging behind instead of the two female creatures they had fought in the corridor.

"W-What are they?" Millicent stammered, her voice tentative and her words faltering like the keys of an old typewriter. "T-They have that veil. You know what I mean. That, what did you call it? A-aura? They're... those women are..."

Kaylee turned her head briefly – only to see that the young woman was reaching for her cloak and arm with trembling fingers, apparently looking for something to hold on to.

"Dead! Yes. They are revenants," Kaylee replied, short-tempered.

Once more, there was a heavy pounding on the door.

Each blow sent a shiver down Kaylee's spine and raised the hair on the back of her neck. Everything in her resisted turning her back on the looming danger. Her shoulder ached, and the warmth that spread over it made the magician realise that she had sustained more than just a few bruises and superficial wounds in the confrontation with the claws of this unnatural monster.

"Revenant?" gasped someone next to him. Millicent's face was paler than the whitewashed walls of the hospital.

Kaylee groaned in frustration, looking down at her bag again because the object she sought was beyond her reach. Finally, she found the slightly damaged cardboard box and pulled out a piece of black charcoal.

"You heard right. Undead. Resurrected corpses from the grave! In this case, probably some vampire, if you absolutely must have the technical term!"
With clenched teeth and the wild pounding in her chest, Kaylee pressed the charcoal onto the wall. Panicked fingers tugged at her sleeve.

"You've got to be kidding!"

"With all due respect, but do I look like I'm in the mood for a joke now?" Kaylee hissed bitterly.

Another violent blow made the door and masonry tremble.

"Crowford!" Benjamin Archer snapped under tremendous strain.

Another blow from the creatures made the wardrobe tremble, and wood cracking could be heard. A hand broke through the planks, splintering to the side as if the door were made of paper, and long claws scraped at the back of the wardrobe, digging deep into the wood.

"What the hell!" Ben gasped while Kaylee hurriedly drew a large circle on the outer wall. Every second mattered, but she knew she couldn't risk making a mistake in her drawing. Magic was like music – a single wrong tune and the harmony was destroyed.

"Strong as twenty men!" Kaylee managed to squeeze out an explanation and tried to concentrate on the details of her spell once more. "A vampire is as strong as ten or twenty men. At least that's what they say! It depends on the type of undead, the time of day –"

"What are we supposed to do? We're trapped here!" Millicent whimpered and sobbed audibly. "I don't want to die!"

"Bloody hell, you're not going to die!" Kaylee snarled at the hysterical thing from the side, "Unless you keep distracting me! Help Dr. Archer or do whatever, but release my arm so I can finish the spell!"

Roughly, Kaylee pulled her arm out of the young woman's grip, who stared at her in fear as though thunderstruck. Kaylee was just as aware of the threat as Millicent, probably even more so. The two Seekers had never faced an enemy like this before.

Two goddamn vampire brides!

If there was a god, he undoubtedly hated them.

The two creatures again struck the doctor's barricade, and a wooden, hollow rumble rumbled through the small room.

Kaylee flinched at the sound, and the charcoal cracked. Cursing, the young magician grabbed the remaining piece further back and drew black strokes and letters on the rough wall frenziedly.

'Concentrate! One wrong stroke and everything goes wrong!' she hissed to herself mentally, making herself breathe in and out deeply.

"A nightmare... It just has to be a nightmare," Millicent muttered almost manically.

Kaylee couldn't help but let out a bitter, harsh laugh at those words as she glanced searchingly over the arcane circle, hastily examining each stroke.

If people knew what was haunting the world and were real, despite being labelled as legends or nonsense... Clueless fools, they had no idea that reality itself was a nightmare.

One of the beasts had already torn out a board of the cupboard and was now trying to reach for Benjamin with its sharp claws. Glowing eyes blazed with fury in the gloom behind the gaping hole in the wood. The holy water was like burning coals to them; their pale complexions blistered and burned to ashes that trickled from their bodies.

Ben's whole body ached from the force of the strikes, repeatedly reflected at him through the wood. Each blow felt like the impact of a cannonball. His bones groaned with every new vibration. Sweat trickled down his brow, and his eyes burned from the salt.

"Crowford! I can't stand it any longer!"

Kaylee's head whipped around. Instinctively, her left hand slid to the knob of her walking stick, but even the cool metal couldn't suppress her panic and instinct to flee.

"Miss Clarence. Now, do exactly what I tell you! Hold on to me!" Kaylee harshly instructed the young woman, who flinched under her stern tone but then actually held out her hands and gave Kaylee a critical look.

"Can you make up your mind? I was just supposed to let you go!"

Kaylee studiously ignored the protest.

"Archer! Get over here as quickly as you can and grab Miss Clarence's hand!" She gave Benjamin the next order instead.

Dr. Archer hesitated for a second.

"What are you up to, Crowford?

If I step back from the wardrobe, it would probably fly halfway across the room under the power of the creatures!"

And then, they would be exposed to the two vampires in this small room, with no way to escape. Even with Crowford's magical know-how, Benjamin was not optimistic enough to think there was a realistic chance of survival in this case. Even a single vampire would be a terrifying opponent.

"Now, just do what I told you, goddammit!"

Ben gasped as he gathered all his strength.

As the next blow struck the cupboard, he pushed himself off and sprinted away. Only a few meters were separating him from Crowford and Miss Clarence. Nevertheless, he felt he was too slow, his body too heavy and the distance far too long.

Benjamin Archer clenched his teeth and jumped.

Kaylee took a deep breath, and Millicent squeezed her eyes shut in panic and for a brief moment, time seemed to stand still.

Then, everything happened in a flash.

Benjamin reached for Millicent. Kaylee also took the woman by the arm, which froze like a pillar of salt. Then, the magician pressed her right hand against the wall in the centre of the arcane circle she had drawn.

A deafening crash erupted behind them. The combined force of the two vampiresses hit the defenceless, exhausted wood of the wardrobe, which flew across the air and towards them like a projectile.

Kaylee heard the bang, but her mind, her concentration, and everything else were focused on her task.

"Superbus sum decipere potentem Janum" ¹, the magician spoke aloud.

The world blurred like wet colours on a painter's palette, poured over by water and flowing into each other. Kaylee felt the reality trembling beneath her fingers, the web that stood against her and her will like a tightly woven cloak, even like armour.

Kaylee felt the threads in this web that made up everything, permeated it all, and gave everything its shape and purpose—every stone, every blade of grass, every animal, and every person.

"Ubi custodit ostium et ianuam, muros destruo et portas creo, per quas solus ambulare possum." ²

Kaylee reached into the fabric of reality and, accompanied by the magical words, pressed her fingers directly into it. She reached in and reshaped it with her words, pulling and tugging at it, her will and what she demanded hammering against the fabric of truth.

It groaned.

The wall's stone cracked and crunched, almost as if it wanted to give voice to reality. Then it gave way, and with a sudden jolt, the stone seemed to melt away like fine sand.

The world tilted as Kaylee stepped forward - right through the solid wall - and pulled the other two through with her.

The curtain that had just opened for them closed behind them as quickly as it had sprung open. With an audible crack, the stone solidified, and reality reclaimed its dominance.

Although the window was closed, they could hear the wardrobe crash into the wall and the window from outside.

Wooden planks shattered against the iron bars. Boards gave way with a crash - and then the pale grimace of the blonde vampiress appeared at the bars. Glass splintered as she pushed her hand through the iron bars, pulling and tugging at them, which bent with a crunch.

Rain lashed against the three escapees. The wind greeted them, howling and immediately tugging roughly at their bodies. Shingles clanked under their shoes, and Millicent let out a sharp cry as the young woman realised they were standing at a dizzying height on the narrow canopy of the hospital.

Terrified, she instinctively tugged at Kaylee's arm.

The jerk of the movement caused Kaylee to lose her footing on the slippery roof shingles and slip.

With a shriek, both ladies lost their footing and slid down the roof - towards the edge.

¹ - Latin: "Superbus sum decipere potentem Janum." - I am presumptuous to betray the mighty Janus.
² - Latin: " Ubi custodit ostium et ianuam, muros destruo et portas creo, per quas solus ambulare possum." - Where he keeps door and gate, I tear down walls and create gates through which alone I can walk."

For the curious: Janus was the Roman god of all origins, of beginnings and endings, of entrances and exits, of doors and gates, to the father of all things (including springs) and all gods. His name belongs to the same word family as ianua, the Latin term for door and ianus for any unsealed arched passageway.