The vampire hunter opened his eyes to a massive plume of dust and smoke rising into the overcast sky. Bits of rubble and debris continued to fall out around him, creating a pitter-patter sound not unlike rain falling upon an open field. The vampire slayer tasted the coppery tinge of blood in his saliva as he staggered to his feet and tried to discern what had just happened.

Surrounding the recovering vampire hunter was a scene absolute devastation, like an illustration of the underworld brought to life. At least a hundred men and women lay strewn around him dying, dead, or ripped apart the sheer force of the explosion that had knocked him off of his feet perhaps a minute earlier. The vampire hunter was one of the lucky ones, having suffered what seemed to be only minor injuries. Most of the rest of his posse had not been so fortunate, for he saw two of his partners splayed out with glazed-over eyes among the numerous dead. The cobblestone road was slick with congealing blood of dozens of guards and bystanders and a fine mist of blood droplets of some pulverized casualty had been sprayed onto the facades of the houses opposite a smoldering crater where moments earlier a house had stood.  This had all the earmarks of a firedust explosion; though no such destruction had been planned by the vampire hunter and his posse. Someone else was after Edward's bounty.

Like wheat sprouts from a barren winter field, the first of the surviving guards were beginning to rise after the initial shock of the explosion. The relative silence following the blast was now broken by the first of a series of agonized wails and screams as the survivors regained consciousness and began to register the bodily damage they had sustained. Bells throughout the city began to toll, alerting the city's populace to some great danger and mobilizing the city's guards into action. The entirety of the Capital's guard would be converging on the ambush site shortly; he had to move quickly if the bounty was to be his. The vampire staggered to the overturned carriage, drawing a wooden stake from a holster on his belt. No matter that his comrades had died in the explosion, a greater share of Edward's tremendous bounty would be his now.

One of his partners had survived the blast: a broad-shouldered giant of a vampire slayer. Five uninjured guards had engaged him, but he held them off with a long-chained, two-handed flail. The guards prodded at the big man ineffectually with their halberds, as the twirling flail's head kept the guards just out of reach. One of the guards erred, overreaching with his polearm in a bid to skewer the vampire slayer. The giant at once stepped down hard on the flat face of the halberd's blade, pinning the weapon against the ground and leaving the guard defenseless as he swung wide and sent the flail's spiked head crashing into his neck, crumpling the guard's plate armor and sending him to the ground in a gurgling heap. Before the other guards could parry, the giant vampire slayer swung hard with the flail, freeing the ball from the fallen guard's neck and whipping it around the blade of a halberd of another guard. With a deft yank of the flail, the vampire slayer pulled the halberd out of the guard's hands, sending it clattering against the cobblestones. The giant twirled the flail again and plunged the ball down upon the head of another guard; his thick helm offered little protection against such force and crumpled in a bloody splash.

The giant was a formidable foe to be sure; he would buy enough time to plant the wooden stake in Edward's heart.

The vampire hunter stepped over dozens of bodies on his way toward the overturned carriage, its drawhorses laying in twisted heaps in front of it. A number of crossbow bolts were embedded in the side of the carriage and the doors remained shut. He hoped that the Vampire prince inside was already dead, that he could simply recover some token of proof from the corpse and present it to Ulrek upon escaping this city. But he knew that to be wishful thinking. A vampire as strong as Edward Bathory would not be slain so easily, and would put up a tremendous fight before allowing a stake to plunged into his heart. The vampire slayer climbed up onto the overturned carriage and drew a bulb of garlic from a satchel on his chest. He tore into the papery husk with his teeth and bit off a large clove, chewing it into a lumpy pulp and swallowing. The peppery bite of the garlic burned on its way down his throat and stomach where it would effuse throughout his body, effectively poisoning his flesh and blood against vampires in preparation with a close-quarters struggle.

The vampire hunter threw the door of the carriage open.

"End of the road for you, Edw-... w-what?"

The carriage was empty. The vampire slayer was dumbfounded as he found nothing inside. Not so much as a smear or drop of blood on the upholstered leather seating of the carriage, only some expensive market goods scattered along the floor and downward-facing door of the carriage. Perhaps the prince and his suitor had been thrown from the carriage during the blast? But surely, there would be some evidence of such a violent ejection? Blood or hair smeared on the inside? The vampire slayer found no indication of such a traumatic event. It was as if the passengers had simply vanished into thin air.

The vampire heard a loud tearing sound, followed by a meaty thud behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his partner collapse amidst a pile of slain guards with four bloody lacerations running down his torso. Edward stood above him, eyes burning with red fury. A hundred paces behind him, a cohort of castle honor guards were running to catch up to their prince. Coming up the opposite side of the thoroughfare, dozens of guards summoned by the tolling alarm bells were coming to respond to the disaster. The vampire slayer was surrounded and there was no way he was going to successfully fight his way though Edward Bathory and the entirety of the Capital's guard. And while he remembered Ulrek's suggestion to die fighting, when faced against such overwhelming force it struck the vampire slayer as prudent to attempt to find another way out.

The surviving vampire slayer leapt down from the empty carriage and threw the wooden stake to the ground. He took another bite from the garlic bulb before tossing that aside as well. As the guards pressed in and encircled him, he raised his hands above his head in submission.

"I'll talk," the vampire slayer said as the halberds and spearpoints closed in around him. "Pardon me and I tell everything I know."