Intertwined Fates 20: Doomsday Approaches

20: Doomsday Approaches

"Are you ready Gregor?" asked Miranda as she set up the power circle, placing a vial of fine powder at its core.

"Yeah I'm good to go. So, what have you done to counter Igor's attempt?" asked Gregor.

"I've placed a barrier enchantment over the doorway here so he can't get in. It will take him some time to get past it," said Miranda. She then smirked as she continued "You're loyal to me, Gregor. I want to thank you for all your help and support. When we drain the power from the circle it should destabilise any attempt Igor makes at drawing power from the gate."

"Great plan, Miranda. Let's get on with this then. How do we do this?" he asked.

"We need to add our mixed blood to the center of the ring," said Miranda. Gregor groaned as Miranda sank her fangs into his neck pulling at his veins, widening the injury and collecting his blood from the wound.

Gregor then did the same to her, he plunged his fangs into her neck pulling the wound wider and then collecting the blood. Miranda grasped his blood coated hand with hers; she then slid her hand out of his and then smeared their combined blood over the vial of powder.

Then the circle of ward stones around the power ring began to glow faintly. "Its beginning, Gregor, get ready," said Miranda as the stones began glowing with increasing intensity.

***

'It's not working! Why isn't it working? Damn it! Gregor must have told Miranda. Why would he do that to me? I've been with him for 200 years! And he chose that tramp over me?!' fumed Igor as the power ring glowed dimly.

***

The ward stones began glowing with white hot intensity as the power built up in them, the charge in the stones built to critical load and suddenly all the stones shot out a beam of brilliant white light and joined directly in the center of the circle the blood caked vial of dust began glowing as the energy passed into the vial.

"Well here it comes, Miranda," said Gregor Before Miranda could respond two brilliant thick beams of light shot out from the circle and lanced into them. The burning energy cut right through them forcing them to scream in agony as the power seared through them. There was a tremendous roar at the same moment the channeling picked up in intensity. The surge in power slammed them both against the wall where they slumped to the ground and the light from the stones faded.

***

"What was that?" asked Steven, quickly pulling out his sword.

"That...is what we are hunting," said Laura after they heard the roar echoing from the underground chambers.

Carl looked to Joy worriedly, she placed her hand on his arm and said "Don't worry baby, you'll keep me safe."

Nodding, Carl turned back to the others before looking around taking in where they were. The imposing sight of the large industrial factory looming in front of them, the dark shape of the factory sending a wave of anxiety through all gathered.

"It's time to get down there. On the bottom floor of this factory there's an access point to a web of sewer tunnels that have been unused for decades. According to the cities sewer layout these old tunnels lead to a now unused maintenance hub, this is where they are. We need to get down there and shut down the gate before the destroyer breaks through," said Laura, grasping the banishment grimore in her hands.

"I don't know about this. Joy. This place is really creeping me out," whispered Carl as he tightly grasped the hilt of his sword.

"It'll be alright, I trust you, Carl. I just want to find my brother. I hope he's safe," said Joy quietly as she grasped his hand.

"Well here it comes, Aaron. Are you ready?" asked Laura as they entered the factory, a chill passing through them as they walked into the cavernous front room.

"As I possibly can be," replied Aaron, gripping the hilt of his sword.

"Good, we need to be since we just set off a sentry charm. They know we are here,"

***

Stealthily they made their way into the cavernous rooms of the factory, on their guard against the other vampires that were possibly lurking in the shadows.

"This should be it," whispered Laura as they reached a set of doors fixed into the ground. Carl wrapped his arm around Joy's waist holding her to him as they proceeded down into the darkness of the cellar. Carl tensed and grabbed hold of Joy tightly as one them screamed out in pain, a blast of light from his death illuminated the set of guards that were on them.

Up ahead, light flicked from torches positioned along the walls. They raced for the light as the guardsmen pursued them.

"Joy!" called out Carl worriedly as she tripped and was ripped out of his grasp. He grasped his sword as one of the guards charged him.

"Carl! Over here!" cried Joy as she was being pursued by one of the guards.

Carl thrust his sword through the chest of the guard he had been battling and charged after the guard who had finally caught Joy. Carl growled at him before shoving his sword through the guard's chest. He screamed in pain as his body vaporised. Carl cursed as another three guards approached them.

"This way Joy," said Carl grabbing her arm and leading her down the corridor. Carl opened a door hidden in an alcove in the corridor and pushed Joy in with him and shut the door with some trouble as it was a very confined space.

After hearing the clattering of boots pass by Carl opened the door fractionally to listen for any movement. Not hearing any he opened the door and let Joy out, "We need to find them again," said Carl grasping hold of Joy's hand as they walked down the corridor.

Turning down another corridor hoping to find everybody else, Joy gasped and asked "What is that?!"

Carl swore and told her "That's one of the demons, meaning we have to get out of here now," Saurtos raised his head and sniffed the air, a guttural sound came from its mouth as turned and spotted Carl.

***

"Aaron! Look out!" shouted Laura as a shimmering cloaked creature ran towards him. Aaron raised his sword and took a swing at the shimmering haze racing towards him. It roared in agony as a splash of black blood sprayed out from the wound. Aaron ducked as its razor sharp arm swung towards him.

Aaron quickly shoved his sword into the creature's gut. It howled in agony as it became visible again. Again it swiped at Aaron but this time he was too slow as the demon sliced into his face.

Aaron dropped to the ground and cried out in agony. Typhoon growled as it approached Aaron, the eyes in its hammerhead glinting evilly. It raised its arm ready to dispose of him. Something slammed square into his back completely immobilising him. 'They found that accursed dagger! I'm fucked now,' thought Typhoon angrily.

Two of Laura's team went over to check on Aaron while she opened the book and started reading the Latin inscription. The air around Typhoon began shimmering as the banishing spell gathered more power. Finally the air around Typhoon began glowing as the demon began fading away. Once the banishment was completed the dagger clattered to the ground wholly undamaged.

Another of Laura's team picked up the damaged bladeless hilt of Aaron's weapon and inspected it while Laura kneeled down on the ground and inspected Aaron's injury. Blood was running out of a gash that started from under his left eye and curved down to his cheek.

"Are you going to be alright Aaron?" asked Laura worriedly.

Aaron winced and said "Yeah, I should be fine. It just burns; it feels like there's a fire in it,"

"Ok, let me help you up," said Laura putting her hands under his arms and lifted him off the ground. "Thanks for your help Dave and Amelia," Laura said thankfully.

They nodded respectfully to Laura and followed them down the corridor to where the others waited.

***

Gregor opened his eyes and winced as spikes of searing pain speared through his body. He looked over at Miranda and saw her awkwardly slouched against the wall. "Are you alright Miranda?" asked Gregor still with hints of pain in his voice.

"Miranda, can you hear me?" asked Gregor. He reached and grabbed hold of her shoulder.

Miranda groaned and said with a strained voice "I should be fine after I feed. We need to dispose of the bait anyway."

"You take care of that and I'll take care of Igor," Gregor told her.

"Ok, I'll deal with Michael and then I'll meet you on the surface. We need to get away from here," she said before grasping his face in her hands and plunging her tongue down his throat.

Gregor groaned as she pulled away and said "Ok, we will figure out what we need to do about Markus then," before returning her kiss just as fiercely.

Gregor slipped out of the room and walked down the corridor in search of Igor. As he approached the room that had the gate inside he spotted a wraithlike apparition moving towards him. The apparition slammed into him burying its talons into his shoulders. Gregor cried out in pain as the apparition yanked its talons out.

To Gregor's amazement his wounds began rapidly sealing themselves. Flavros launched to strike again but Gregor dodged its movements being able to now see the ghostly form with more precision and time its movements with accuracy. Soon Gregor had the upper hand on the demon. It howled in pain as Gregor grabbed its head and twisted it powerfully, snapping the bones and tendons in its neck immobilising the demon for the moment.

"They'd better have that dagger," muttered Gregor to himself as he continued down the corridor.

"Gregor!" called Igor from around a corner.

"Igor, what happened? Why did you try to do that?" asked Gregor.

"Why did you betray me, Gregor? You chose that woman over me. I've been your friend for 200 years and you've only known her for months," snarled Igor, his hands glowing with building energy. "I didn't want to kill you, Gregor. I thought you were the only person I could actually trust, but it seems as though I was completely wrong."

"I was happy to follow you, Igor, until you started getting power hungry. Miranda might be power hungry but she knows how to do it. She knows what the meaning of subtlety is. Markus has been watching you for sometime," said Gregor getting ready for the coming assault.

"With all this energy I've gained I can finally take care of that fool," said Igor menacingly.

"I'm sorry to say though that your time is up Gregor," he finished before then hurling a shimmering fireball directly at Gregor.

Gregor shouted in pain as the fiery ball slammed into him scorching his chest. Once the burning magic subsided, the burn marks quickly receded. Igor gasped at Gregor's extreme rate of healing. He quickly readied another fireball but before he could launch it Gregor charged him and slammed him to the ground, putting his hands around his throat.

"I wish I didn't have to do this, Igor, but you leave me with no choice. You're too dangerous to have around," said Gregor, pained that he has to lose such a close friend. Igor's eyes glowed venomously as Gregor slammed his fist into his chest. Igor's eyes widened as his body began breaking up.

Gregor leapt up from Igor's body as blue flames surrounded him, Gregor looked on while Igor screamed in agony as the flames burnt him to ashes. Soon all that was left was a patch of pale grey ash staining the floor. Gregor then turned and walked off.

***

"How are we going to get out of this?" asked Joy worriedly as the demon's evil claws scraped across the floor, its barbed tail thumping down the corridor as they fled from the monstrosity pursuing them.

"I don't know. Laura had it planned out," Carl said, grasping onto Joy's hand and heading around a corner quickly.

Joy screamed as the demon appeared from around another corner in the corridor ahead and charged Carl, slamming into him and shoving its barbed claws into his shoulder. Carl cried out in pain and used his vampiric strength to push the demon away from him, his torn shoulder protesting against the strain.

While Carl grappled with the demon, his sword clattered uselessly to the ground. Joy looked frantically around for something that she could use and found a door. She opened the door and reached for Carl, grabbing his arms and pulling him towards the door.

Carl kicked the door shut with his foot and they raced down the wide corridor in front of them. Saurtos roared behind them smashing the door to splinters and then charged down the hall. They turned into a narrower hallway as Saurtos charged past, unable to see where they had gone Saurtos stopped in the hall, its tail slapping against the wall dislodging bricks and old mortar.

It sniffed the ground trying to pick up their scent as Joy helped Carl down the narrower hall. After a moment longer of sensing Saurtos grunted then stomped off.

Carl leaned against the wall and groaned in pain as his blood leaked freely from his ravaged shoulder.

"Are you going to be ok, Carl?" asked Joy.

"It should be fine, but its feeling a like a dead weight right now," groaned Carl.

"We need to find Laura," said Joy.

"Yeah. Laura has what we need to get rid of that thing," said Carl. Exiting from the passage way they found themselves again in the factory.

"Maybe it will be easier to find Laura if we go back to the start," said Joy.

"Yeah, this is a different part of the factory though. She might be a bit hard to find," Carl told her, looking around them.

Joy was about to respond until the rapturous head of Saurtos came around the corner snuffling the ground. Joy froze in a panic as it lifted its head and stared straight at her, its evil eyes boring into her. Carl cursed and grabbed Joy's arm they tore down the hallway that was cluttered with rusted factory machinery.

Squealing iron followed them as Saurtos battered the machines out of its path. They reached the end of the manufacturing room and came across a saw-toothed blast door. With thick re-enforced plated iron, Carl got an idea as they passed the razor sharp and thick needles protruding from the edge of the door.

"Stay behind the door, Joy," he told her as Saurtos approached. Carl grabbed hold of the door and wrenched it forward, it slid over the frame as Saurtos came charging at them.

Too fast for him to slow down, Saurtos saw the danger too late and roared in agony as Carl rammed the door spikes straight through his front section.

Carl grunted with the exertion it took him to hold the door on him. Saurtos' breath burning his eyes and face, the demon straining powerfully against the spikes trying to push them off him. Saurtos' blood pooled on the ground and hissed viciously as it ate away at the concrete.

***

Hearing Saurtos' roars of fury Laura and Aaron hurried down a corridor trying to find the source of the sound.

"It sounds like it is coming from the surface," said Steven.

"That would be this way then," said Laura as they came up to a fork in the tunnels. Taking the left fork they hurried down as Saurtos roared again.

"What is that?" asked Aaron as they came across a pile of pale ash and a body.

"This looks like Flavros and that is a dead vampire," said Laura referring to the body and the ash pile.

"Ok, lets get rid of this thing quickly and then we can help Carl," said Aaron. Flavros growled savagely as the bones and tendons in his neck had almost fully regenerated, his half feline features contorted into a snarl as he got up from the ground. As he reached out to lash the tome from Laura's grasp Aaron stabbed him with the demonbane dagger.

Flavros instantly froze in his lunging posture as Laura began reading from the book, she raised her wrist to her mouth and tore open her vein. Allowing the blood to drip out she rubbed her finger over the blood then streaked her blood covered finger through the blood coated side of Aaron's face.

Flavros' eyes gleamed savagely as the blood sacrifice was flicked onto the ground under him as his body began glowing steadily brighter. Then there was a flash and the dagger clattered again. Saurtos howled in rage once again, this time sounding closer as the sound unsettled dust from the ceiling and walls.

"Let's go help them," said Laura as the group hurried down the corridor.

***

"Joy, please get out of here. I can't hold this door much longer," grunted Carl as his blood steadily dribbled on the floor from his ravaged shoulder. Saurtos roared and pushed against the door as it gave a loud squeal of twisting metal.

"I'm not leaving you here, Carl," said Joy keeping her hands placed firmly on the door as it shook and vibrated from the strain of holding Saurtos.

"Please baby, go find your brother. I can't hold off this demon much longer," groaned Carl as Saurtos gave another ferocious shove causing the metal to shriek louder as the door began twisting away from its frame.

Joy pressed a soft kiss to Carl's neck and said "I'm not leaving you here to die, Carl. I mean it; you're the most important thing in my life. I can't lose you,"

As Saurtos was preparing to give the fatal thrust to the twisted door, Carl looked deep into Joy's eyes feeling their connection to each other grow tighter. Then Saurtos went completely limp.

"Took you guys long enough," managed Carl as he slumped against the door.

"Sorry Carl, we had to deal with Typhoon," said Laura "Are you sure you can do this Aaron? You look really drained."

"Yeah, I'll be fine babe," said Aaron

"Ok, Steven and Dave, could you come up? We need to do this now before the dagger stops working on this one," said Laura as Saurtos began feebly shifting.

They grabbed hold of each other's hands while Laura began reading from the book. Their skin started glowing with an ethereal radiance as thin tendrils of energy snaked out of them and flowed into Saurtos' monstrous body. Soon he was shoving against the door again making it squeal while the energy flow picked up. Soon his body was glowing brightly as he struggled to stand.

Regaining the use of his tail he lashed at them smashing Amelia against the wall. Dave cried out as he saw the wicked brightly glowing tail slam her against the wall. He broke the ring and ran over to her, Aaron groaned in pain as the sudden increase in power drain tore through his already weakened reserves. Laura looked to him worriedly and he croaked "Finish it."

Saurtos roared and gave one final thrash sending Dave crashing against the wall on the other side, then with a blinding flash vanished as the dagger clattered to the ground.

"Aaron!" shouted Laura as Aaron collapsed to the floor

"I'll be ok, Laura. Go check on Dave and Amelia," croaked Aaron.

Carl got up and inspected the twisted door frame, noting that the saw-tooths had been completely eaten away by Saurtos' vicious blood. Stepping over the still steaming concrete he stumbled and landed against the wall.

"Here, Carl," said Joy as she supported him.

"We will all be fine. Now we need to just shut down the rift so they can't get back through," said Laura supporting Aaron.

***

They entered the rift chamber where the air was sizzling with energy as the rift pulsed in the center of the room, looking and feeling like a living thing.

"Can you feel that?" asked Joy as they entered the room.

"It feels evil doesn't it," said Laura.

"It feels like there's something crawling up my back," said Aaron with a shudder. Carl groaned and fell back against the chamber wall.

"Carl?" asked Joy worriedly.

"It's the rift. Whatever it is, its getting stronger," said Carl shakily.

"Aaron are you sure you want to do this," said Laura.

"I can handle this," said Aaron as the rift began pulsing violently.

"Steven can you hold the book open while I read from it?" asked Laura as an unnatural wind began flipping the pages.

"Yes," said Steven as he stepped forward and held the book open.

Laura went over to Aaron and pulled his shirt out from his pants, she placed her hand flat on his bare chest. Feeling his muscles tense up, she looked worried to him. His blood was slowly drying onto his face.