The stone floor beneath him felt like ice to his flesh. Stripped of his weapons and clothing he was isolated within this room bereft of light and heat for what felt like weeks. It was a strange feeling to be so utterly trapped, one that he was not accustomed to. He had not lost his calm yet, despite the severity of the situation. He had mapped every square inch of his tomb, yet save for a narrow tunnel for the circulation of air, there was no tangible routes of escape. Upon his neck lay a small metallic sphere, tied about by a tight metallic chain. Every attempt to remove it forced it to tighten ever so slightly. It had a clear effect on his ability to manipulate the world around him. Without his weapon there was little he could do to remove it. Still, the mere fact that he remained alive served to tell him that they had made no headway in removing the weapon from its sheath. As long as the weapon remained, and as long as its secrets remained his alone, then he was safe. Until then he would simply bide his time.
Time continued to pass, he did not know how much however. Each passing second became harder and harder to keep track of. Wandering his own thoughts kept him occupied, but his nerves were beginning to wear. Within his mind, he went over and over how this came to pass. Vendettas against men of his history were not uncommon, yet he had never imagined that someone would go to such lengths to capture him. The plan was meticulous, it must have taken years to fully implement. To have kept his minions off his scent for so long must have also taken skill. Yet it was only a matter of time before they found him. They were bound to him after all, and such bonds are not easily undone.
His eyes would suddenly close shut as light filled the room. Seemingly from nowhere she entered, backed by two of her most trusted guards. "Enjoying your stay I hope M'lord." She said with a sneer, her hands moving to his face and gripping it tightly. Those clawed fingernails would pierce the flesh of his cheeks, drawing a slight amount of blood, yet even as she pulled away the wounds would heal leaving only the crimson liquid. "The great Lord Venroth brought to his knees. Did you think that you would have gotten away with what you have done? Not enough to just kill my mate was it. Not enough to destroy my clan. No you had to take my sister as well." She would bear her fangs at him, both mirth and disgust in her eyes. As he began to adjust to the light he would see her more clearly. The distinct mixture of vampiric and demonic features was easily detectable. Her raven black hair would fall to her buttocks, as eyes of a blood red color would fall upon him.
"Well Lilith, what a pleasant surprise it is to see you are still well." He would grin up towards her, that soft condescending laughter echoing outwards. "It is amusing that you have gone out of your way to bring yourself to my attention. What did you hope to gain by this clever little plan? Did you think that you would punish me by isolating me like this? I certainly hope that you didn't think a pathetic creature like you could kill me."
"Silence!" she growled at him as she moved towards him once again. With her superior strength she would lift him upwards into air by the throat. Still despite her efforts that laughter still came outwards. "You narcissistic little worm. This is not a game, and you certainly will die long before your pets can rescue you. Even as we speak, the best minds in my thrall are deciphering what they can of that weapon. Soon they will know both how to remove it from its casing, and how to finally destroy it."
"Well, I certainly hope for your sake that you are right. Because if I get out of here alive, you will enter a hell like nothing you have ever experienced before." She would let him fall as he spoke moving away shaking her head.
"Enjoy your fantasies of escape, for I will never allow them to come to fruition." She spat at him, her lean figure standing over him. "I would crush you right now if it were not for your perverse sword. To think that so many great beings have fallen to a petty little sorcerer like yourself because of your disgusting disregard for the laws to which we are all bound. My husband might have been a monster, but at least he was a real man, unlike you pathetic little insect."
"I will enjoy showing you what a real man is. However, since your curiosity seems lacking, it would be best if we end our discussion right here. Why don't you take your two little stuffed animals and leave me be." He said with a sneer of his own, his hands coming to rest comfortably behind his head. He would watch her give him an icy look before turning away. He would marvel at her delectable rear as she slowly vacated his room, the exit soundlessly sealing behind her.
...
It did not take long alone in that lightless room for his curiosity to get the better of him. He had watched closely to see exactly how the mechanism that sealed the door had worked. It certainly was controlled from the other side, yet even with his limited magical ability, he might still have a chance to force it ajar. Fingers would play upon the stone surface as his mind would go blank. He would focus upon the structure about him, drawing upon its own recourses to feed his spell. His muscles would twitch as his focus would reach its limit. In that moment he would release the door, yet at the same time the magical backlash would cause his nose to bleed profusely, and his head to real. Cursing under his breath he would stand staggering slightly as he made his way into the light.
By the time his eyes had adjusted to the world about him, his nose had ceased bleeding. Still he felt drained and more constricted then before. He needed to remove the sphere and the chain, yet to do so he would need more than simply his bare hands. In the distance he would spot another of the vampire guards. Without much of his magical ability available, he would need to rely on stealth. Luckily his body was trained physically for a situation like this. Venroth stalked the guard so silently, that even his inhuman perception could not alert him to Venroth's presence. Venroth's hand collided with the vampire's throat, lifting him into the air. He would squeeze tightly, before jerking it roughly to the right breaking the neck. Unfortunately, the guard remained alive and was able to send a blow to Venroth's cheek sending him falling backwards.
The guard would fall upon Venroth sinking his teeth into his exposed arm. Yet as the mage removed his flesh from the vampires teeth, the wound would heal. Still wrestling with the ancient being before him, Venroth knew that he was not going to be able to take him down by brute force alone.
The guard would begin to send volley after volley of punches to Venroth's face, pushing him into the wall behind him. Venroth would begin to fall backwards, his body succumbing to the brutal assault. He would slide down the wall, the guard kicking him again and again, attempting to relieve him of consciousness. Venroth's eyes would begin to close, and he would begin to go limp. The guard however would continue kicking him, far gone in his barbaric desire to pummel the magical being before him into the dirt.
Very suddenly Venroth's eyes would open and catching the vampire off his guard, would draw the man's own sword and use it to remove his head from his body. Where a broken neck was not enough, a severed head did the job. The vampire's eyes would go dead, and his body would fall to the floor. Venroth knew that the death of a member of her clan would alert Lilith. Moving quickly he would use the weapon in his hand to sever the chain, and remove the magical binds. His abilities having been returned, he would wave a hand, his body being covered in that ethereal white light. Soon enough the light would fade, leaving him dressed within a midnight gray cloak. A second motion of his hand and he would fade from that corridor, being inexorably drawn to his captive sword.
