The dusty air that filled their nostrils turned to fresh clean air in a flash or more appropriately, a clap. A black gate covers the entrance of the compound and two pillars at the sides carry strange looking statues, a werewolf holding two hearts, one in each hand, on one pillar while the other carries a statue of a man with wings on its back.
There are two wooden buckets in the courtyard and a well at one end.
Elma sniffs the air and picks up little scents of soup and her ears pick on the heartbeats behind the closed doors.
"Are you going to be joining us?" McAllister asks Elma, he wears a calm and soothing smile but the look on Samuel's face is enough reason to be cautious.
She folds her arms and shakes her head, "I will just watch. Maybe I will learn a thing or two," she says and moves backwards toward the well.
McAllister smiles and plays with his moustache before giving his goatee a quick pull, "Tell me, Mortem. Should we start slow or fast?" he asks.
Samuel's heart beats fast with rage as his veins begin to appear on one side of his head. He grits his teeth and clenches his fists as hard as he can, his claws slowly appear as he loosens his palm and his teeth become sharp pointed.
In a blink he moves toward McAllister and unleashes a deadly swing of claws at him but they do not reach him. A force blows Samuel away, tumbling him on the ground as he rolls.
"Fast then," he says and stretches his hand forward with swift and a bolt of lightning extends from his hand and strikes the sphinx. Samuel screams and growls as his blood curls with the currents that burn him.
He lies flat on his belly, unmoving with low inhales of breath.
"Eh, don't tell me it is over already. I mean after I quit working for your father, you and your brother went ahead and made a name for yourselves. Don't tell me this is all there is to the great and murderous Mortem I have heard of," McAllister mocks him.
Samuel swiftly jumps from the ground and throws a stone at the sorcerer who uses his magic to deflect it. The sphinx dashes left and right to catch the sorcerer off-guard but even with his speed the sorcerer seems to be a step ahead of him.
He claps his hands together and an invincible force throws Samuel backwards and against one of the pillars.
He falls to his knees and growls, his furs slowly creep out of his body and the top of his head is torn open by two horns.
He raises his head and roars loudly before he charges toward the sorcerer, "That is the spirit," McAllister laughs and immediately throws some powder from his sleeves into Samuel's eyes.
The sphinx screams as he feels an excruciating pain burning his eyes.
"I have fought sphinxes before. Liandra, Alucard and even Ogog. You look to be much weaker than they are. I thought the age thing was for only vampires," he says as he walks around the anguished man.
"What is this? What did you do to my eyes? I can't see," Samuel screams, "Ah yes. It must feel like a thousand ants are feasting on your eyes or you just rubbed the hottest pepper in there," McAllister says.
He plays with his rings as Samuel laments, "I will kill you McAllister," Samuel shouts.
"Sure but you seem to be forgetting the rest of your gifts Mortem. You have always been privileged to be one of the apex killers of our world because of easy pickings.
Now, how will you fight without your eyes?" the sorcerer says.
"Come closer and you will see," "Says the blind creature," McAllister laughs.
Samuel charges toward the sound of his laughter and swings his hands left and right, hoping to land a hit on the sorcerer but he always comes short. He throws fists into the air without direction and screams when he feels another bolt of lightning surge through his body.
He wriggles and falls on one knee.
"You are not thinking straight Mortem. You are letting your emotions do the thinking. Why are you so angry?" he taunts.
"Because you made me sick, my brother and I almost died escaping from you and that scumbag of a father. Fuck, I almost died," he rants and his horns grow even longer.
He coughs out blood from his mouth as he struggles to his feet.
"We have killed Dracula. Now its your turn," Samuel says, "Sure," McAllister rolls his eyes and extends his hand towards the immortal, he uses an invincible force to lift Samuel into the air and smack him against the floor several times until the ground begins to crack.
His blood stain the hard floor but he refuses to lie on his belly as he forces his weight up.
"You have the determination but you aren't using your head right now. You are blinded by your rage. You have lost your sight but you can sniff me out, you can hear my footsteps and the beatings of my heart.
Come on, make this chall..." before he can finish his statement a hard fist comes crashing before his eyes, but as if in anticipation a shield of white energy blocks the punch as the sorcerer stares in awe.
"You didn't even wait for me to land before picking up on my advice," he says, "What did you say, prick?" Samuel growls and forces his hands through the shield but McAllister dodges to the side allowing the hairy beast to miss yet another punch.
McAllister's smile grows wider, "Good, that was better" he says.
Samuel hates to admit it but the sorcerer is right. If he wants to defeat this man he has to hold down the anger and calm himself. He allows his senses to drown in the darkness of his predicament and searches for a way out.
If he is to find Rachael and still save Gabriel, he has to finish this.
He takes a deep breath and allows his ears to pick up on the tiny vibrations that fill the atmosphere.
"You think I will give you the chance?" he hears McAllister's voice from behind and ducks to the left only to scream as his body connects with another bolt of lightning.
"Because you heard my voice that doesn't mean I'm there," McAllister laughs.
"If fate brought you to my store, it seems like it was for you to die. The irony, Mortem finally meets death," he says as Samuel screams.
He stops to catch his breath while the sphinx crawls.
Samuel takes in the scents around him as he struggles to get up. He smells his blood dropping from his mouth and forehead, he smells the sweat that clothes his furry body.
He takes in his scent and eliminates it from his brain, focusing on all other scents but his.
The sweat that drips down McAllister's face, the strange perfume he has on is mixed with dust, he takes in the scent and memorizes it.
His ears pick on the light footsteps of the sorcerer and indeed they are light and hard to detect.
"Stand up boy," McAllister taunts.
Samuel listens to the beat of his heart, he allows his telepathic mind to feel the presence of the creatures around him. Three people in the building and three outside, he dares not enter the sorcerer's mind but detecting it is enough.
In midst of his concentration and the sorcerer's taunts, a plan is conceived.
Samuel growls and charges wildly, roaring and throwing his hands all over the place, "I will kill you sorcerer," he shouts as McAllister dodge all his vigorous and pointless attacks with a disappointed spirit.
"I actually thought you were getting better but it seems you need to suffer some more," he says and extends his hands to shoot bolts of lightning at the sphinx.
McAllister raises his brows as he misses his target, the sphinx moves around aimlessly but somehow he manages to dodge the bolts of lightning that the sorcerer throws at him.
"Show yourself bastard," Samuel screams out, "Here," McAllister directs him before teleporting to the opposite direction, he sends bolts of lightning toward the sphinx and again he misses.
"What is going on?" he thinks as the situation begins to annoy him.
McAllister shouts a spell and a wall of flames surround the sphinx, "Now let me see you come out of that," he says with a pompous pose and a smile.
Samuel screams out in pain and the sorcerer walks around the wall of flame, inspecting his fiery victim. "It seems that is all there is to you, Mo..." his words never reach completion as Samuel burst through the wall of flames and grabs his shoulder.
"Thank you for the advice, I needed it" Samuel says and he swings at the sorcerer with all his might. He feels his body threaten to break under a new weight that sits on him, but he pushes on.
He won't lose, not after the beating he has taken, not when Gabriel and Rachael's lives are at stake, not when his life could end.
The only thing that becomes louder than the devastating punch to McAllister's chest is the roar the sphinx shares with the world as he claims a victory over the sorcerer who lies breathless on the floor.
The wall of fire dissipates and Samuel falls on his ass as his beastly features retract into his body. He coughs and spits blood as he looks at the sorcerer's body.
"Papa," a child cries out and runs out from the house, "Wait," a woman calls out to the child as he runs to the sorcerer's body with teary eyes.
"Papa, please don't die. Please," the little boy cries, "Don't worry. It will take more than that to kill me,".
Samuel's eyes widen with shock as he hears McAllister's voice, the sorcerer stands up and spits out blood from his mouth as he staggers, "That was one hell of a punch Mortem. If I was any weaker I would have died but I am not,".