Annan rode in the Skeleton King's ornate Carriage toward Strange Tales City.
But on the way, a vampire blocked their path.
"Need help?" the Skeleton King asked.
Annan recognized him as the vampire he had thrown out at the banquet. "He worked up the courage to stop us. Let's not disappoint him."
Annan leaped down from the tall Carriage. The vampire standing beneath the trees raised his head and bared his teeth in a vicious grin. "I've been waiting for you..."
"You really are stupid..."
Could sleeping too much make someone stupid? Annan would have to tell Illymoyas when he got back.
"I'm a vampire, and so are you. I'm an Elite, and so are you. I'm a Sorcerer, but you're not..." Annan said to the vampire, whose smile was fading. "And did you notice whose Carriage I was riding in?"
"Uh..."
The vampire suddenly flung open his Black Cloak and streaked toward Annan in a blur.
"All I have to do is catch you!"
"You just told me your plan..." Annan casually pulled Lemon over to repel the vampire, then kept casting while the two fought back and forth.
Annan thought of the Innate Spell he had never managed to cast and tentatively began chanting its first passage.
The chant rang through the woods like a hymn. A flock of circling birds descended toward Annan, only to scatter when a Scarlet door suddenly appeared behind him.
"What is that?!"
The vampire, still fighting Lemon, felt a presence that sent a shiver through him. He glanced over uneasily.
Annan ignored him and continued chanting the words of his Innate Spell.
The Scarlet glow of the door behind him grew brighter, its color surging like blood until it nearly swallowed him.
"What is that?!" The vampire's mouth opened impossibly wide as