“Do whatever you have to do to get him out of that castle.” you requested.

“Can I take that to mean that you are relying on my judgement?” Mina asked, her eyes searching yours.

“Whatever you've got planned, it's gotta be better than the literal end of the world.” you shot back.

A small grin teased the edges of Mina’s lips as she gave you a slight nod.

“Very well. Be aware, however, that Varnae is as much a capable sorcerer as he is a powerful vampire.” she warned, her expression growing serious once more. “I would like to believe that, out of the two of us, I am the more capable blood mage…but, ultimately, there is no telling how many other tricks he has left up his sleeve.”

“Well…we know for sure that he’s got a disposable army of monsters, vampires, mutants, and, potentially, Limbo demons.” you said, counting off each terrible type of creature on your fingers, one after another. “Did I miss anything?”

“Do not let the weight of mere numbers intimidate you, Cindy Moon. For their forces are far from unified.”

“What do you mean?”

“Consider the vampires, for example.” Mina began, raising one hand with her palm facing upwards. “They have been told that you are nothing more than a ruthless butcher of all things supernatural, and that you not only possess the Montesi Formula, but you very well mean to use it.”

You rolled your eyes at her.

“Ugh! Don’t remind me.”

“But what they have not been told,” Mina continued, ignoring your grumbling. “Is that Varnae plans to use Belasco’s power in order to summon a scourge of-”

“Vampire demons?”

Mina paused to stare down at you.

“What, no good? Does ‘demon vampires’ sound better to you? What about ‘Damnpires’?” you suggested, rubbing your chin thoughtfully. “No…wait. That’s too close to ‘Dhampirs’.”

Mina lowered her hand and continued to stare at you.

“Limbats? Hellwalkers? Ooh! Hellbats! Do you think-”

Only then did you pause to realize that Mina was patiently waiting for you to finish talking. You winced and rubbed your arm nervously.

“Sorry. I've been spending too much time with the Huntsman, I guess.” you said, before quickly amending that statement. “Well, I guess that's not entirely true. We used to spend more time together, but I enrolled in this fancy boarding school, and he just got back from a trip to Vegas, so we haven't really had a lot of time to…”

For the love of Khonshu. Were you still talking?

“You know what? Forget I said anything. Continue. Please” you said, joining both hands together and pointing your index fingers at her.

Mina grunted softly and proceeded with her explanation.

“Yes, well…these…’Hellbats’ as you would call them…”

Oh, so that's the one that she liked. Cool.

(Cont.)