I’m almost there.

It had taken me a few hours to get to the Everfree Forest under the cover of darkness since leaving Canterlot undetected. So far - it seemed - the princesses hadn’t realised that both me and Discord had escaped. Considering that Celestia and Luna - to my knowledge - were still the current holders of the Elements of Harmony, I’d assumed that the two of them might have gotten some form of warning.

To get out of Canterlot, I'd had to use my teleportation; fading into the darkness of the city. I was surprised by the amount of ponies that were actually still out at this late hour. Back in my time; they would've been fearing for their lives. I still had some magic lingering in my system, which prevented me from using some of my more powerful abilities. The teleportation - which was more like shadow fading - was only short range, so once out, I had to move by foot. Going by train or drawn carriage would've been the stupidest thing I could've done.

“Well it doesn’t matter now,” I said, quietly talking to myself as leaves and trees moved passed. “If they don’t know then that means the statue Discord put up worked better than I thought it would.” All that mattered to me at this moment was reaching a place I could hide in for when the morning came.

You see, my type of vampire was different from that in folklore and fairytales. While classical vampires were told to be affected by things such as holy relics or running water, I had no such weakness. My body is maintained by willpower alone, and can only be truly affected by the natural energy of the sun, or Hamon energy, which cancels the force sustaining my body.

The trees and plants beginning to break away as a path formed to the Castle I was heading to. Strange though, I thought. Discord said that he would go annoy the sisters. I stopped as my destination came into sight. The old Discord would’ve begun creating chaos right away. Even for a chaos spirit, he always was a little bit predictable. I began walking again, feeling the cold air move past flicking my jacket as I did so.

I guess being sealed away for so long actually taught him something. I smirked. I’m not surprised though. Being sealed for a few hundred years would change anyone. After all, I was always the patient one out of the two of us.

I began to quicken my pace. It was imperative that I set up a base of operations before sunrise. I'd specifically chosen it there because of how nature seemed to function. It wouldn't matter what creatures I found skulking around the Castle. My centre of rule had been in the Everfree Forest for years. I knew most of the types of creatures that lurked inside it. Besides. It was my Castle, and they would be trespassing. The Castle of the Two Sisters? Nonsense! It was MY Castle. DIO’s Castle. Nobody would be allowed to claim it, except me and me alone.

I arrived at the gorge by the front entrance and noticed that the bridge across it looked to have been broken at some point. I moved over for a closer inspection. "Hmm. It seems to have broken some fair time ago," I said. "However… -" I went over to one of the knotted areas "- It seems that something has been here recently. Maybe in the last few months or so." I backed off. Not trusting the integrity of the bridge to support my weight, I took a few steps back before breaking into a sprint, pushing against the ground. The momentum created by my mass and velocity was enough to carry myself carefully over the gap.

The Castle had fallen to the sands of time. Much of the outside parts of the Castle had been worn away, evident by the amount of overgrown moss and holes in the walls. Vines ran across them from the ground up. Many of the windows had also been cracked or completely destroyed. Various tapestries ripped and left to wear out. I walked through where the front entrance would of been. How the Castle had come to be in this state didn’t bother me. Much of what had been destroyed seemed to have been things that the sisters had put in after they took over. If that’s the case, then where did they store everything else I had here? I pondered.

“Grrrrrr."

My ears began to pick up the sound of what I assumed to be wild beasts lurking further on in the distance inside. So there are things living in here after all. I took a few steps forward, purposefully sending a message. If they thought a little growling would scare me off, they thought wrong. I'd challenge them. The beasts obviously assumed that this was their home. They might be able to see me where I am, I thought. But I can hear their footsteps. Steps that no ordinary creature would hear. I began to focus my senses, increasing the sensations around me, honing on the beasts locations. I took another step forward, daring whatever lurked out there to come at me.

The unknown beasts inside began to grow restless with the presence of an unknown figure. They growled, moving out of the cover of darkness. Five emerged. Four of them had fur whcih was a black-grey colour while the fifth appeared to be bigger, with orange fur. Their fangs gleamed in the moonlight.

The alpha wolf saw the intruder take a step forward, hearing the rest of his pack starting to growl behind him. The alpha and his pack had claimed this place as their home some few months ago, driving out the other creatures once lived here. This thing was an intruder, one who even dared to challenge them for ownership of this place.

Howling, the alpha commanded the rest of his pack to follow. To them, this was their territory. They’d make sure the intruder didn’t leave this place alive. Quickly, the alpha and his pack ran out of their hiding spot, paws travelling fast down to the floor below.

Wolves. I guess I’ll just have to show them who the top dog is, I thought. This fight, - if it could even be called that - wouldn’t even be a challenge. I spotted them as soon as they appeared out the upper hallway entrance. I counted five. They ran down the stairway with incredible speed.

The wolf at the front jumped straight for my chest. This wolf was bigger and had a sense of command compared to the others. The alpha, I thought. This will be rather unfortunate for him. I pushed out my arm, opening my hand. The alpha gave a small whelp as my fingers connected, digging into his chest. “Now DIE!” Colour started to drain from the alpha’s flesh as his body began to deflate into a withered husk. It’s useless to struggle, I thought. You died the moment you charged at me.

This was another example of my vampiric abilities. Classical vampire's could drain blood from their victims using their fangs. I could do the same, except I could also do it using the blood vessels in my fingers.

The other wolves ran at me. Two of them jumped, going for my arms, while the other two further behind went for my legs. I twisted, swinging my arm, using the alpha’s body to attack. I heard a snapping sound as the body collided with the necks of the wolves in midair. They slammed onto the concrete floor, glassy eyed. “MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA!” I shouted.

The remaining two wolves stopped dead in their tracks, apparently mystified that three of them - including their leader - had been taken out in such a short amount of time. This thing was monster. It had slaughtered their leader. They turned away, legs moving, hoping to escape.

I ran at them, using my vampirically enhanced speed. “Oh no you don’t!” I blurred past them. They were too slow compared to me. Digging my fingers into their backs, I scooped them along. Abruptly stopping in front of a wall, I let physics do its work as my arms - carried by momentum - slammed the wolves into the wall. The force alone should broken every bone in their bodies, I thought. But just to be sure. Using my fingers, I began to drain all the blood from their bodies until all the life was gone, dropping their corpses on the ground.

Normally, because the wolves weren't human, they wouldn’t have been able to restore my vitality. However, when I first came to Equestria, early on I managed to find a way to overcome that weakness. I would have perished years ago without it. With the more blood I took, the more I felt the magic leaving my system. Restoring my strength. Granting me power.

Turning around, I began to survey the damage. I sighed. “I’ll have to fix this place up later on.” The moonlight inside the Castle disappeared the further down I went. The princesses may have lived here for a while it seems, but they can’t know all its secrets. I doubt they’ve even dared to go this far down. I came to a door which hadn’t been used in a long while. The whole thing was covered in dust. The hinges seemed to be mostly rusted away too. “Ah, here it is.” I pushed the door open. The hinges broke, the door hitting the floor.

I’d purposely built this room so far down as to make sure light from outside never reached here. It was a square room. Most of the walls were completely covered in dust, with the furniture inside suffering the same fate. I walked towards the centre of the room. In the middle, was an object, something always associated with vampires. A coffin. MY coffin. I opened it up, and lay down inside.

I’m finally back, I thought satisfied. I have a lot of work ahead of me tomorrow.

Author's Notes:

Hello, and thanks for reading the latest chapter in my dispaced story Living in the Shadows.

Finally, some ACTION, even if it was just against some silly little wolves. This was my first attempt at writing an action scene, so yeah, it might be a little bad.

But thanks for reading. If you've made it this far then you have my sincerest gratitude and I hope you'll indulge me by staying and reading further chapters to come. So till then, enjoy.