"But..."
Douglas's eyes lit up with the fervor of a scholar discovering a whole new subject.
"You're rather interesting."
Valerius's heart gave a sudden lurch.
He suddenly felt a hair-raising chill, not from the cool night breeze, but from Douglas's gaze.
That was not a wizard assessing an enemy, but an anatomist examining a perfect specimen-or perhaps a collector's piece.
He even felt he could read the questions the other man was considering in those eyes.
For instance, which acupuncture point could be pierced with a silver needle to temporarily sever a vampire's connection to blood curses?
Or whether his heart's structure really matched the descriptions in legend.
This wizard wanted to dissect him!
Just as he had dealt with his younger cousin!
Fear clamped like icy pincers around Valerius's long-stilled heart.
He did not hesitate.
There was not a single threat, nor a wasted word.
He violently shook his black robes, and his towering body burst apart beneath the cover of his cloak.
Poof-
A soft sound rang out, like a giant beehive being punctured.
His towering body exploded in an instant, not into flesh and blood, but into hundreds of black bats.
They screeched shrilly, fleeing frantically into the dense woods in every direction like a splash of scattered ink.
"Watch out!"
Lupin darted in front of Douglas, his wand already raised.
Marco roared as well, every muscle in his body tensing as he braced for a fierce battle.
But Douglas merely flicked his wrist.
His movement was almost languid, as though brushing dust off his cuff.
"Immortal-Binding Rope-Peach Binding!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two golden cords of light shot from his wand tip like living creatures, winding precisely around the Pig-Faced Strongman and the panic-stricken witch like venomous snakes with lives of their own.
Before either could utter a