Eastern Approach - Victor's Assault - 8:47 PM
The bound spirits didn't see Victor coming until he was already among them.
Vampire speed was more than supernatural quickness—it was the ability to move between heartbeats, to exist in the spaces where time stuttered and normal perception failed. Victor flowed through the foundry's eastern defenses like liquid shadow, his centuries of combat experience translating into motion that was poetry written in violence.
The first spirit he encountered was a thing of smoke and malice that had been bound to patrol duties with chains forged from crystallized fear. It sensed his approach at the last possible moment, turning toward him with eyes like burning coals, but Victor was already inside its guard.
His hand passed through the spirit's quasi-mate
