THE EGDE OF THE UNDERWORLD
The world seems to be engulfed in darkness with little rays of light from different corners illuminating the dark lands with dim lights. The sky has a spiral ray of light that spins at the pace of a tortoise and the lands are filled with shallow streams that lead to a far off river, too far for the mere eyes to see.
On the far edge, north of the castle is a giant wall of dust. Thick and dark that it looks more like ash from a distance, little bits of snowflake fall on the stones around the compound and a creature of death flies around the castle with a hideous face and white skin.
The grounds slowly begin to the take the colors of the snow, painting the dark grounds with lights of white while a sudden chill of cold air moves west.
The castle doors open and Alucard walks outside, he opens his palm and lets the snow fall into his hand. He closes his eyes and breathes as calmly as he can.
The winged vampire that patrols the skies fly down and lands in front of Alucard, "It has been a while since it snowed here," Hans says.
Alucard opens his eyes and reveals their magical glow, "Do the ghouls still reside in these grounds?" he asks, "Yes master," "Good. Get prepared, they are coming.
Legion has failed,".
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The naked woman's body becomes clothed with the shadows of the cave and her footsteps are as light as raindrops, almost void of sound with only a little tap against the ground to be heard when she moves.
She leads them through a narrow path underneath the surface where they faced legion. There are skulls hanging on the walls on different sides of the path, the smell of water and sand is mixed into the air.
The path seems to lead deeper into the ground and it gets narrower until they can only move in a straight line.
The cave is quiet with only their footsteps to give light to their walk, they walk and soon the walls begin to echo the sounds of water droplets beating against a lake.
Finally Fion reaches a pond at the end of the cave, surrounded by darkness and a strange figure standing in the pond. Its feet are a pile of skulls and its body is a skeleton with a spangenhelm on its head.
The space around the pond is wide and they stand stretched around it; "What is that?" Rachael asks, "The guardian of the gate, Locus the hellhound. They say he was left hear by Lucifer to act as a warning if God ever came through this path," Fion says.
Rachael raises a brow, "God? I'm not even going to ask, I will just flow with it" she says.
Fion steps aside and points toward the pond, "This will take you where you need to go," she says.
Samuel nods and walks into the pond without hesitation, he turns and looks at the rest of his comrades, "This is it," he says and something pulls him into the pond.
Long thin black hands that look like mud stretch out and hold his shoulders and head and pulls him into the pond, the rest of the group watches in shock as he disappears into the waters.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Rachael asks, "Sammy has already gone in so I'm definitely going in," Amanda says, "This can't be the worst thing that has happened to me today," Rachael says. She carries the spear in her hand and hits it against her knee to break it but groans when it fails to break.
Elma laughs a bit and collects the spear from her, "That has to be embarrassing," she says and breaks the spear in two before returning it to Rachael.
"See you on the other side," Elma says and jumps into the pond.
Samuel steps out of a stream and runs his hands through his wet hair, he coughs and spits before raising his head to take in the view of his surroundings.
The grounds are covered in black sand and dry earth, he fetches a bit in his hand and presses it against his palms before rubbing his palms together.
The skies have spiral white clouds and a flake of snow drops on his lower lip, he looks forward and sees a tall castle meters away from the stream with a cauldron of bats flying over it.
The hairs on his skin stands as he suddenly feels a strong chain binding him to something; "There it is," he hears Gabriel's voice beside him, "That is Dracula's castle," he says.
"The time has come to end this Gabe and don't try to change my mind. It is already too late," Samuel says, "I know,"
The sounds of water splashing and a groan makes him turn back to see Elma stepping out of the stream, she coughs and spits. "That tastes salty," she says.
She stands by his side and set her eyes to the far west of where they stand and sees the giant wall of dust that hovers like a sandstorm, "The wall that separates this place from the underworld," she says and Samuel turns his gaze to the wall of dust.
"I've only heard of it but seeing it now, it isn't that great", Elma says.
She pats Samuel on the back, "We will get Gabriel back," she says, "I thought you didn't believe we would, don't start believing now before you jinx it" he says and she laughs.
"If I didn't believe I wouldn't be risking my life to be here," she says. She looks into his eyes and he holds her gaze, for a split second he feels his heart welcome her compassion and it softens toward her.
"You are one annoying vampire Elma, but thank you" he says and turns away.
Amanda and Rachael pop out of the stream, water drips down their bodies as they walk onto the ghastly grounds.
Rachael shivers as the cold air blows against her wet body, her teeth jitters and she rubs her elbows while hugging herself, "Fuck, this is so not my day" she says.
Amanda places a hand on her and she feels a sudden rush of warmth over her body, the water begin to evaporate in the air and her clothes and her hair suddenly dries.
Amanda says strange and short words before clapping her hands together and a faint light of fire spreads out of her body and hit the rest of the group. They see the water on their bodies turn to vapor and their clothes dry with a familiar smell of heat and water on their clothes, "Damn, do you iron your clothes yourself? Like with your hands?" Elma says.
"Shut up, it's little sphinx magic" Amanda says.
She looks forward and stares at the castle up ahead, "Count Dracula's castle," she says and Rachael turns her head toward the castle. It is tall with black walls and bats hovering all around it, she tightens her grip on the two pieces of the spear in her hand.
"Alucard is in there?" she asks, "I don't know but Gabriel is," Samuel says, "He is in there. I can sense the presence of a sphinx, a living one" Amanda says.
"Then what are we waiting for," Rachael's blood boils hot as she begins to walk forward but Samuel pulls her back, "I admire your hurry to die but wait.
If he was the one that sent those vampires and Legion then he knows we are coming. He won't be alone, we have to be prepared" he says.
"It doesn't matter Sammy. Gabriel is in there and you are not alone" Rachael says and looks around, she glances from Elma to Amanda and back to Samuel.
"You are not doing this alone, we are here with you. We will fight or die together," Rachael says.
"I don't know about all that love, I'm not dying today," Elma says and the group burst into laughter.
"Good to know we can still laugh before we face danger," Amanda says as they begin to walk toward the castle. The grounds are hard and the atmosphere gets colder while snow gradually paints the grounds.
"I don't know why we are worried about losing anyway. Amanda is here, she is a sphinx so she cancels out Alucard and there is me, a vampire.
Samuel still got some juice and Rachael isn't completely useless," Elma says.
They climb a five feet hill and walk past another small stream emitting steam into the air, its waters are warm against their feet but the steam proves hotter as Rachael feels are skin turn red under its heat.
She runs to the front of the group and out of the stream, she stands and wait for them to reach her. She turns and sees the wall of dust, "What is that?" she points, "The wall that separates this place from the underworld. We have no business with it so, let's keep going" Amanda says.
They get closer to the castle and find it surrounded by a fence of tall and thin spikes, it goes round the castle leaving only the gate opened in front. They walk around the edges and the bats start to fly high above them, directly above them.
Amanda and Samuel begin to growl as they get closer to the gate, "What is going on?" Rachael asks, "This isn't a bunch of bats, it is a vampire. A fucking old one" Elma says as she looks at the cauldron above.
They reach the gates and the cauldron leave them and form a spherical shape in the compound, coming together until they form a pale and tall creature with ghastly eyes and long nails.
"Master Alucard has been expecting you,".
The time has finally come for them to face Gabriel's killer, who will live and who will die?