Swoosh! Swoosh!!
At the Western part of the castle, there was a flash of light in the middle of utter darkness.
After a few seconds, the light subsided. Then, two figures were revealed.
Kylian and Hector.
Hector grinned sheepishly as he gazed at his hands, slowly lowering his gaze to look at his other bod parts, awe visible in his eyes.
Kylian glanced at him and whispered. "What is it?"
"I haven't experienced that before in my entire life." Hector responded, still in awe.
"Emmm!" Kylian took off his eyes and looked around them.
They were in the middle of a twenty meters wide and over a hundred meters long hall, which was dimly lit. The wall, made of black stone, had veins of pure gold running through it, making it look like streaks of gold in pure black sea of walls.
The floor looked like a wood but not entirely like a wood, it looked like a metal.
The place was so silent that if a needle dropped, it sound would be heard all over the hall.
Even though there's a source of illumination that they can't see, the place is still dark that Kylian and Hector had to turn on their supernatural red eyes to see more clearly in the dark.
"It's beautiful." Hector commented as he gazed around.
"Yes. And creepy…. Too." Kylian replied.
Hector swallowed in the lump in his throat and his eyes glittered against the golden veins on the walls. "I can't see anything. Maybe there's nothing in here. I think we should keep moving."
"I don't think so."
Kylian didn't say more word. He just nodded his head forward, motioning for Hector to see for himself.
Hector looked there. His eyes widened and his lips parted but he didn't talk. The area was so dark that even their supernatural eyes couldn't penetrate through the darkness. But in the middle of the sea of darkness, they could see a pair of crimson eyes, staring right at them.
Hector slowly moved closer to Kylian. The duo stood near each other as they stared at the pair of red eyes that, if they were right, belonged to a supernatural creature.
However,
As they stared at the pair of red eyes, figures wrapped in dark cloaks emerged from behind them, and unknown to them, formed a semicircle around the two.
Kylian was the first to sense the presence behind them. He turned his neck and his eyes trembled when he saw the army behind them.
He nudged Hector too and the latter turned in a flash.
"Oh, uh!" Hector murmured as he gazed at the over a dozen vampires. What he felt as he gazed at the figures alone made his skin crawl.
Of course he could tell that they are not ordinarily turned vampires. They are turned vampires but they are not ordinary.
'Probably they are turned by Akotal himself.' he thought.
He's right afterall. The vampires were all turned by Akotal when he first began his propaganda against the Skulls, a thousand years ago. And they have been his men since then.
Kylian's eyes were as sharp as a blade as he moved his gaze amidst the vampires.
Hector looked back at the pair of red eyes that stared at them from the thick darkness earlier but it's not there anymore.
He gritted in frustration as he faced the army of vampires.
Soon, before they could blink, the vampires surrounded them, forming a complete circle around them, caging them in the middle with no way of escape.
But are they going to go down without a fight? I don't think so.
"Things are about to get dirty." Kylian's fangs slowly sprouted. His claws elongated and his red eyes glittered as he muttered. "Get set, Hector."
Bang!
The vampires lunged at the duo at high speed.
*********
At the Eastern part of the castle.
Sarai and Mei Li appeared after a flash of light.
Immediately, Sarai collapsed.
Her eyes were open, but filled with exhaustion. The exhaustion was so much that she couldn't raise a finger.
It's just like she had said before.
The teleportation spell is a very powerful spell. It cost her everything. The pressure of moving people through space and landing them in a place she hasn't even seen or been to before in her life, is no small at all.
She might be a witch, but she's nowhere near being invisible.
As Sarai collapsed, Mei Li rushed to her and brought her near the wall, resting her back on it.
A growl sounded from behind Mei Li and she paused.
Slowly, her head turned back.
An army of hind-legged creatures that were tightly packed together greeted her.
Their fierce red eyes glared at her and a silent growl emanated from their throat.
Mei Li glanced at the weak Sarai and bit her lower lips as she clutched her sword. She took a stance for fight, facing the beasts, and backing the unconscious body of Sarai's.
"None of you is getting near her." She said through gnashed teeths as she swiped her sword in the mid air.
The runes engraved on the sword blade glowed bright gold as she posed a fighting stance, her blade held horizontally in front of her.
The warthogs growled loudly and lunged at Mei Li, and she rushed at them too.
********
While Hector and Kylian fought for their lives at the Southern part of the castle, Benzo and Heald too, were giving their all to avert their death today.
While Heald writhed on the floor, with his arm almost cut off and his cheeks sliced in half, making him unable to talk or scream, Benzo turned to face the vampire.
His wide eyes shifted between the giant vampire with razor sharp claws and Heald, whose almost cut off arm was still healing, with great difficulty.
The vampire growled and lunged at Benzo. His face went white and with impulse, stretched forward his two palms at the fast approaching vampire.
Two lines formed by flames shot from his palms and met the vampire head-on.
Bang!
The vampire was hit squarely in the chest and was sent flying across the hallway as it roared in pain.
Benzo sprung to his feets with a slight relief that he was able to save his life. If the flames had not stopped the vampire, and it got to Benzo, that's a clear death for him because a slash to the neck was all that's needed. He might be a mutant but he doesn't have the crazy healing power vampires possess.
The vampire's roar could resonate across the hallway as he writhed in pain. It couldn't dodge the flames and burned it on the chest, which was scorched all over with place finding it hard to heal.
In many legends, one of the greatest weaknesses of a vampire apart from vervain, is fire.
Even though a vampire can heal from a burn injury, if it's much, the vampire is gone.
Benzo could only thank the gods that fire is effective in killing vampires or he would've been dead by now.
The vampire's blazing eyes reflected in Benzo's eyes as it faced him again.
The long claws of the vampire flexed beside it as it lunged at Benzo at a speed he couldn't follow.
Benzo swiped his palms and it lit up in flames, illuminating his face that had a hint of fear on it as he faced the vampire beast.
'I'll be here with you, beast.' he thought as he threw flames at the incoming beast.
**********
Mei Li fought valiantly amidst the warthogs, cutting through them like hot knives cutting through butter.
They were swift and muscular, their enormous strength could be the fall of the swordswoman but she's agile and lithe in her movements. The second she's here, the next, she's moved. The beasts couldn't get to her but she sliced through them easily with her sword as the runes on it glowed with each blood she spilled from the beasts.
Bang!
One lunged its fist at her but she ducked and the fist struck the wall.
Slash!
The head of the beast was sent flying next.
Another growled and leapt at Mei Li but she slid under it and slashed open its belly. Blood poured like a river from the beast's belly as it roared in pain before collapsing to the ground, dead.
Mei Li kept on moving around, ducking, slashing, dodging, cutting. She dominated the fight and soon, her whole existence had been covered in the blood of the beasts just like the black floor of the hallway.
But as time went by, she began to get tired. At the end of the day, she's but a human whose strengths are her rune sword and her skills.
A beast pounced on her and made to gore her with its powerful claws but the rune covered blade sliced through its fingers, cutting them off. The beast's roar was cut short as the blade slashed through its neck and sent its head flying.
Mei Li retreated back a bit, her moderate chest rising and falling as she gazed at the beasts in front of her.
They had reduced, considerably and the ones that remained now are not even up to a dozen.
Sweat dripped down Mei Li's face as she lowered her gaze to look at Sarai, whose body still laid, leaning against the wall, unconscious, as it recovered from the energy she used to get them all in.
Her eyes flashed with resolved as she faced the beasts back. She swung her sword in a circular motion for a while then pointed it forward, at the beasts.
Roar!
The beasts roared in unison as they lunged at her again.
********
Benzo kept running around the hallway, throwing flames at the vampire to keep it away, as he fought for his live.
The vampire was fast and Benzo can't follow it's speed but at least, his flames proved effective as it's the only reason the vampire had not gotten near Benzo since.
Benzo stood on a spot, turning around, in constant 360 degree turns as he watched out for the vampire.
A loud growl emanated from the left and he quickly threw about four fireballs there.
Bang!
The area erupted on flames. But nothing was burning in it. He didn't hit the vampire.
Several dark spot is on the wall, all caused by Benzo's flames but he hadn't manage to get the vampire. The dark floor of the hallway had several moles of fire, scattered across it.
Despite all this, Benzo hasnt gotten a hit on the vampire since.
If it's him and Heald, it would have been more easy but Heald's still out, struggling to heal from the slash on his cheeks and his cut arm, leaving only Benzo to it. He knew it's only a matter of time before the vampire gets to him.
Benzo bit his lower lips and held forward his two palms in readiness for the vampire, his eyes glittering in alarm and his head dripping with sweat.
The air whistled and Benzo snapped his face to the area but there's no one there.
Deep growl sounded at the end of the hallway and he turned there but there's no one there.
It was like a flash, almost a hunch, even though he isn't sure. Benzo snapped his neck to the back. He could see the fierce gaze of the vampire as it emerged from nowhere.
Benzo couldn't even react. It happened so fast. Then it dawned on him. The vampire had been hiding since, waiting for the perfect time to strike.
Bang!
The next second Benzo was sent flying across the hall as he crashed several meters away, skidding uncontrollably.
He came to a stop and grunted as he placed his hands on the ground and strained to get up. Lines of red blood trickled down his forehead as he gazed up, just in time to see the vampire, fast approaching.
The feeling of death he felt was so great that his eyes began to tremble and he almost regretted coming into the castle.
Bang!
Benzo was quick to roll to his feet as the spot he was on earlier shattered.
His palms lit up with flames and he shrieked, pouring out all his anxiety as a wave of flames blew everywhere with him in the center.
A loud yelp of agony followed, signally the vampire has been hit.
Benzo wiped off the red blood on his lip and continued to throw flames everywhere.
The yelp of the vampire has stopped and he can't see it but he knows the vampire is still near, probably lurking around, waiting for an opportunity to gore his skin.
Benzo continued to blow the flames, his face paled with every second passing as he dispensed the flames. Slowly, his eyes began to turn red and his lips began to get pallid too.
He's a mutant that has power to conjure flames but his flames are not endless, so as he dispensed it continuously without a stop, he could feel his energy going down faster.
As he threw the flames, he began to move closer to Heald whose arm is about to heal up. Heald is his only hope right now because the flames aren't gonna last long.
The whole hallway had lit up with flames that burned high and hot. The vampire is still not in sight but Benzo didn't relent.
His eyes shone with resolve as he continued letting out all the flames he had in him.
Soon he was right beside Heald. He tapped Heald with his feet.
Heald grunted as he looked up at Benzo with eyes that showed how much agony he's experiencing. His cheeks had already healed and his lips trembled as he said, "He's turned by the Primordial himself. That's why he's strong like this. You just hang on a little bit more."
"You better hurry and get back on your feets!" Benzo shouted back in alarm as he turned his palms to the left, pouring out more flames, flames that were beginning to lose their bright burn, signifying the low fuel of the mutant.
However,
Bang!
A loud bang resonated from the extreme end of the hallway and Benzo snapped his neck to look there.
All he could see was a flash of silver and the next second-
Bang!
A silver rod thrusted Benzo's belly and nailed him to the wall behind, hanging him there.
His lips parted and a torrent of blood poured out of his lips. He wished and opened his lips to say something but couldn't say a word as another mouthful of blood came out instead.
*********