Epilogue

"How far are we?" Merrivale asked. Creighton led her by the arm. They traveled slowly, under the high afternoon sun, which weakened his companion. They traveled day and night, in a hurry to leave. The Lakota were no longer safe to be around. Merrivale felt the loss of her dead Sisters but she did not fall into depression. They weren't her real sisters, after all, and she was glad she survived.

"Maybe a day more," he said.

Some Paleskin stragglers were left behind. Most of them had to find shelter for protection from the killer sun each day. They didn't last long as the Lakota ancestors hunted them down.

There had been great trouble avoiding roving hunting bands of Lakota, but Creighton could avoid trouble as well as he could cause it, like a sixth sense. "There is an underground bunker ahead. We will stay there until night."

"Are you sure it is abandoned?" Merrivale asked.

"It is safe." When they reached the bunker, he led her in.

She felt the cold wall with her hand. "I smell something odd," she said.

"Do you?" asked Creighton. "I'm sure it's nothing but garbage."

"It's a familiar scent," she said, sniffing more deeply. Recognition crossed over her face. Creighton could see it clearly and he smiled.

"The Hollow King, why is he here?" She felt hands on her neck and they squeezed tightly around it.

"Hollow King is not how to greet me, daughter," Pavel Sted spat out. "You know I don't like that name." He shoved the back of her head against the thick concrete wall violently. Her thoughts turned fuzzy. Pavel released her, and she flopped to the ground.

"That was easier than I thought it would be," Creighton said.

"You did well." Pavel reached into his mouth and pulled on his teeth and out popped two fake teeth, leaving only absent voids on either side of his mouth. He threw them to the floor. "Hand me your knife." Creighton reached into his belt.

A groggy Merrivale felt pressure on her wrist. She could make out her father's last words to her, "I put you in her path. I let you think my creatures belonged to you. I knew your greed would make you use her and I hoped she would break your hold. She performed better than I could have imagined. You and your accursed sisters took my power. Now I will take it back." Pavel placed his lips on the helpless vampire's opened wrist and drained the life from her; all of it. What started out as a soft sensation became painful. His fangs slowly regenerated and dug deeply into her flesh.

He paused, "I am not hollow now, am I, daughter?" Long ago, the three had plotted and ripped his fangs from his mouth. He had blinded Merrivale during that struggle. He had been left neutered from it. The Sisters laid waste to this world, attracted the wrong attention, and trapped them all. Now he was restored to his rightful place, and his betrayers were no more.

Pavel Sted stood up, leaving Merrivale, now lifeless, behind. "It is a shame," he said. "She was my favorite. Now let us go back into the world. I discovered something new about how this Spiritseekers work. The girl showed me without realizing it. The one here is lost to us, thanks to their bumbling." He pointed to the dead vampire at his feet. "But there are others."

"Shouldn't we wait until nightfall?"

"My dear Creighton, The Hollow King is no more. The Hallowed King has returned. There is no need to fear anything. Even the light."

Creighton felt elation for the first time in decades. His true master had returned. "Where do we go next?"

"You will go home. I will explain what you need to do. I have things I must prepare before you join me."

Creighton and The Hallowed King exited the bunker together and, after many years, they left the Lakota lands behind for good.