Sensing mental energy

The small silhouette went out through the entrance. D stopped, and seemed
to consider following it. He had no fear of the lashing rain, of course,
but all of his dhampir senses detected a mass of powerful mental energy
thronging to the back of the barn. Whatever it was, he couldn’t yet see it.

From D’s back rose the sound of his blade unsheathing. After that, there
was no movement at all.

The presences—a horde of soaking corpses—surrounded him, young
ladies and lads with stake-pierced hearts, their burial vestments vividly
dyed with their own blood. They were the corpses of all who had fallen
under the pernicious fangs of the Nobility and been thrown into the rushing
waters since this village was first incorporated.
However . . . “A psychological attack? They’re using rather advanced abilities.”
D had already noticed that the rows of corpses cast no shadow.

“Long time no see, D. Never thought I’d find you here.” The bloated
corpse of a drowning victim, the only one that had been spared a staking,
stepped forward. It was the Vampire Hunter Geslin. Could the enemy be
trying to use some memory of this man as a way in, to project their illusions
into D’s mind?

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