A bat streaked past them with a blur of wings, zipping through the corridor, but then it halted mid-air when it noticed them and began twisting and shifting. Its bones stretched and flesh reformed until the creature fully transformed into its humanoid form. It was none other than Vincent.
He landed awkwardly on his knees and then scrambled backward until his back hit the wall, his eyes darting between Andrei and Adeline. His mouth fell open in disbelief, a sound beginning to rise in his throat.
He wasn't afraid—he was shocked. Utterly frozen by the impossibility of what he was seeing. Before he could make a sound, Andrei blurred forward in an instant.
He appeared before Vincent, quickly covering his mouth with one hand while encircling his waist with the other, lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing at all.
