{"Dust to dust, ashes to ashes"}
The water swallowed the sound, but not the fury. Down here, everything moved like a dream, slow, shadowed, pulsing with danger. But the Rogourau beasts cut through it like fire in oil, fast and furious. The vampires never saw it coming. I hovered behind a reef spine, heartbeat thumping in my ears, my eyes fixed on the deep scar of the Blood Stone nest ahead. It writhed now alive, sensing us, or fearing us.
Then Ralph struck, and he was magnificent in the water, his Rogourau form all black flame and golden fury, eyes blazing even down here in the murk. He lunged through the shadows like a spear, slamming into the side of the nest with a snarl that seemed to vibrate through the sea itself.
The vampires scattered, too slow to react, their sleek forms twisting in confusion.
