Chapter III: Separate Ways
"Oh my God..." Mina said taking a step back, "what should we do? We can't just leave them."
Soma put a hand on her shoulder and said, "Mina, calm down. I don't think we have much of a choice."
"Charlotte, do you think you can break the connection on Nathan and Hugh and see what's going on with Serenity?" Trevor asked with a hint of nervousness. Charlotte nodded and read a passage from her book, in a few seconds Hugh and Nathan faded from view and a new horror was in front of them.
Isaac and Eric stiffened at the sight of Serenity lying on the ground with Chaos standing over her, his sword pointed at her neck.
"Damn it, this is just what we didn't want to happen." Trevor said through his teeth.
Trevor recalled the past month's events when they last fought Chaos. He and Simon had gone off on their own to search for Serenity and Hugh, and what they found still made his blood boil to this day. Chaos had a plan to take Serenity over by forcing himself on her. He would have taken her if it were not for himself and Simon engaging in a fight with him and driving him off.
"We cannot do anything for them here" Alucard said, breaking Trevor from his thoughts, "we need to move before we have even more problems."
"Adrian is right, if we move fast we might be able to help Serenity, depending on the demons already on the move in the castle." Simon said and he started moving up the staircase.
All but Eric and Charlotte followed him up the stairs.
"Let's go you two, you heard Simon." Soma called over his shoulder. Charlotte was just about to close the link before she gasped and saw Serenity. She had knocked Chaos back against the wall and was holding him by his neck. The others stopped and instantly saw what had made Charlotte cry out. A pitch-black aura was surrounding Serenity and her eyes had gone from a clear blue to crimson red. Chaos said something to her, but whatever it was no one could tell. Serenity tilted her head to the right, her eyes never leaving his. She smiled, showing that her fangs were out, and started laughing.
"Enough," Eric said breaking Charlotte's spell with one of his own. "we must not linger here any longer."
Eric grabbed Charlotte by the arm and ran up the stairs to the others. Releasing her, Eric took the lead as everyone ran up the steps at full speed. The group cleared three floors, none saying a word, before Lisa and Camilla halted them in the fourth floor.
"Oh my, would you look at this. You have all done well to get this far." Camilla cooed from the center of the room.
"Master thought you would only get to the second floor before we came to you." Lisa said, smiling at them, her eyes never leaving Adrian's.
"Well, I guess we have no choice. I want all of you to get out of here and make your way up to the throne room. Isaac and I will handle these two." Eric said taking out his sword.
The group stepped away from Lisa and Camilla and started for the set of stairs to the left as Lisa said, "Oh boo, I was hoping I could play with my Alucard," she took out a knife and licked the blade, "Well, I should have guessed that whore's brothers would ruin my fun."
Isaac stepped forward with a cold look in his eyes, taking out his lance he looked over his shoulder to Eric, "Stay out of this fight Eric," he looked back at Lisa and smiled, "this one's mine."
Serenity's hand pressed around Chaos' neck as her eyes clouded and turned a bloody haze of red. She forced Chaos tight against the wall as a black cloud surrounded her and licked at Chaos' face. He wasn't smiling anymore but it was clear that he still found the situation amusing.
When he spoke his voice came in a whisper, "That's my girl."
Serenity's eyes never left his as she tilted her head, as if to say she didn't understand. In an instant her blood-red eyes brightened and she smiled at him, her pure white fangs glistening in the light of the room. She began laughing as she brought her head back up and moved with blinding speed closer to Chaos' ear.
With a dark voice she said, "If I'm yours, why don't you try to tame me?"
Serenity jumped up and kicked Chaos in the chest before she sailed half way across the room and landed gently by her sword. Chaos, seemingly unaffected by her kick moved away from the wall towards his sword, bent, and picked it back up. Serenity's right hand hovered over her sword and it flew up into her hand, the instant the handle touched her flesh the blade of the sword burst into pitch-black flames.
"You are getting stronger with your powers I see." Chaos stated through a forced smile.
The intensity of the flames was making the room warmer.
Serenity brought the sword up to an offensive stance as she smiled and replied, "So you noticed, but my question for you is what you are going to do about it?"
She took five paces to Chaos before she stopped and put a hand on her head, with struggling words she continued, "Will you kill me?...Uhhh...or will you try...to make me yours...again?"
Serenity closed her eyes and dropped her sword, making the black flames disappear just as fast as they formed. She followed it as she dropped to her knees and held her head in her hands. Chaos was laughing again as he sheathed his sword and walked to the door opposite where Serenity had entered.
He looked at the door and asked, "Why fight it Serenity? I know deep in your heart that you want to give into the darkness that sleeps there."
Chaos focused on the door, making it creak, and then fly open.
He turned around to look at her and continued, "And I know that you want to give into me. I saw it in your eyes when you looked at me and I've seen it before."
Not looking up, and her voice returning to normal Serenity stated, "You don't know me...you never have...and you never...will. You don't know...how dangerous this...thing inside me is."
She looked up at him, her eyes turning back to a crystal blue, she saw that he wasn't laughing or smiling at her. With cold eyes, eyes that could kill a mortal man if he held his gaze too long, his left arm stretched out in front of him.
"You never gave me a chance to know you." He said in a voice that could freeze fire.
Serenity never got a chance to reply, because in that moment Chaos launched a dark ball at the floor. The ball hovered for a second then slammed into the ground at frightening velocity. To Serenity it seemed that the entire castle was shaking, she tried to get to her feet but was knocked off balance when a crack split the floor in half. From the big crack in the middle, hundreds branched off from it. Serenity looked back to Chaos just in time to see him launch a red ball, just slightly bigger than the black ball, at the floor. This ball didn't hover and it crashed into the floor, disappearing as it hit. Serenity had no time to act; the floor beneath her crumbled and fell away. She felt herself dropping down, slowly at first then faster and faster until she fell away into the darkness.
