"If you love something, set it free." Alex had gone back to find Vampy, only to discover a torn plastic zip tie on the ground. His pet had run away. 'I should've got him microchipped.' This was the heartbreak of separation.
'Dracula, are you sure you don't have any loot stashed somewhere?'
Dracula spoke in his Romanian accent, 'Lord, I am poor. My masters paid me nothing. Sometimes they gave bonus, chopped off leg, arm.'
Alex was listening in rapt attention to this case study. Getting free labor was among his interests.
'Even my home in Transylvania, Bran Castle, is rented out to show tourists like Airbnb.'
Alex found only two things in Dracula's cavern. The first was some Wolfssegen, which is a charm against wolves to keep them away. Apparently, it was true that vampires hated werewolves. The second was some hungry grass, which causes unstoppable hunger to whoever ingests it.
'Who is the hungry grass for?' Alex asked.
'Lord, the Chiva family often employs vampires in service positions, waiters, bartenders...Many humans are rude to them. We used to spit in their food until we found this, now we give this to them to teach them a lesson...and they die.'
'So you basically poison people to death for rudeness? Is that the lesson they learn?'
'Yes...'
'Note to self...be nice to food servers,' Alex didn't want to learn the lesson. "Ok. Where is The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn?"
Dracula began to guide Alex. From the entrance of the lair, Alex went down a windy and unusual path. Once again, it was a long walk through the ancient catacombs. On a positive note, he didn't run into anyone else this time. After all, these tunnels were massive in scope.
'Lord, we are approaching,' Dracula said.
Alex chugged and threw away his Red Bull before proceeding step by step. Similar to Dracula's section of the tunnels, there were torches on the walls. Soon, he even ran into more cannon fodder vampire guards. A slice here, a chop there, and the path was cleared. Eventually, Alex could barely make out a low voice in the distance.
"...Instet es..."
...
"Audi nos Fidelibus tuis..."
...
"Inter lucem et tenebras forti dominus..."
Alex got closer and closer to the chamber where the voice originated. There were no guards outside. It seemed they wanted their privacy. He stopped at the door and peeked inside.
The cavernous hall was illuminated by a copious amount of candles spread everywhere. There were 5 people in black robes standing on top of a massive altar. They surrounded some kind of circular design similar to a pentagram, but much more complex, filled with all kinds of symbols that Alex had never seen before.
Currently, he could only see the outer parts of the design, because in the center lay dozens of fresh, naked, bloody corpses piled onto each other like a mass grave.
Alex gritted his teeth, feeling a mix of rage and disgust. 'Dracula...What the hell is this?'
'They are making an offering, Lord,' he replied.
'To who?'
'...A devil.'
'Are these all chosen?'
'Yes, Lord. They are from the Chiva family.'
Alex's face turned cold. 'This doesn't look right to me. The pile is missing something. I think it needs 5 more bodies.' He began to act.
The candles in the room were unnaturally flickering with each chanted word. "Magna Abyzou primo uestre quaesumus placatus accipia--"
...
The robed figure speaking had frozen. The candles in the room had become calm. The remaining four were confused and looked over to him.
*Thump*
Suddenly, his head fell to the ground and rolled forward into the pile. Several moments later, his body fell to its knees, and then face down.
"There's an intruder!"
*Fwoosh*
Another head went flying.
The remaining three quickly responded. One summoned a bronze spear. Another summoned a hairy brute of a General. The other launched a spell that created a ball of light that ascended to the ceiling.
'What is that?' Alex asked his Generals.
'Lord, that's an illumination spell. That chosen is a magician,' Scott replied. Luckily, the spell didn't do anything. It was a fast casting, low-level spell meant to uncover enemies hiding in shadows or with camouflage, but Alex had true invisibility from a soul item so there was no effect.
As the three looked around for signs of Alex's position, the one who cast an illumination spell screamed and coughed up blood. A sword sized hole opened up in his chest, which Alex widened with a twist like he was playing foosball. The other two could see directly through his body.
There was no blood pouring out because Alex's invisible sword was still inside. Alex pulled out Balisarda and moved to the next target. Quickly, the man he stabbed began to gush blood from his chest and mouth.
"Call them out!" one of the chosen screamed.
The brutish General made an extremely loud yell that echoed through the catacombs, even hurting Alex's ears. As he did that, he charged forward, smashing into the stabbed chosen. He was sent flying like a rucksack and crashed into the wall a distance away, dead as can be. Luckily, Alex had long moved away from behind him.
*Clomp* *Clomp* *Clomp* *Clomp*
Out of nowhere, many footsteps approached from outside the chamber.
'Not good.' Alex realized they must've had hidden soldiers somewhere nearby.
At this moment, a dozen vampires ran into the chamber and blocked the single doorway.
Alex was trapped.
Author's Note:
"The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was active in Great Britain and focused its practices on theurgy and spiritual development.
Many present-day concepts of ritual and magic that are at the centre of contemporary traditions, such as Wicca and Thelema, were inspired by the Golden Dawn, which became one of the largest single influences on 20th-century Western occultism." - Wikipedia, "Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn"
