Hunting

Chapter 20

Cody's pov

Silently,blending with the shadows,we got closer to the dark mansion. It was quite a surprise when the main door opened by itself. Carefully,i got inside the mansion.
The floor was covered by parquet,the walls were red. A pair of starts were connecting the first floor to the second floor. The main illumination in the room came from a huge chandelier. The rest of the illumination was coming from small lamps. The whole place was silent,too much in my opinion. At my left and at my right,there were a pair of doors,for a total of four doors. At the upper floors there were four doors;like the previous floor,two of them were at the right while two of them were at the left.

"So,were do we go?"i asked. I wasn't able to perceive any kind of magic from the area. I watched around another time. I noticed some small cameras and a speaker attached to the walls. "Our enemy is watching us. Quite creepy."

Don reflected for some seconds before taking a decision. "Let's start by exploring the lower floor. Then,we will explore the upper one."

"Please,tell me that were not going to divide"Duncan said.

"Don't worry,we will stick together"Chris said.

I heard a high pitched laughter coming from the speaker. "Look what i found. Scarlett and our little friends. Try to not die while exploring the mansion of the boss. You know,blood is quite resilient to cleaning,and the smell of rotting bodies is not pleasureful." The man maniacally laughed once again. "Try to have some fun. I'm sure that i will" After the third laughter,the speaker turned off.

We started to explore the rooms of the first floor. At our right,there was a dinning room and a kitchen. At our left,there was a lounge and a game room, We didn't found any trace that could lead us somewhere. So,we got to the second floor. At our right,six bedrooms(three for each zone)and a two bathrooms(one for each zone). On the ceiling,an attic door. Chris opened the attic door;there wasn't any stairs or ropes,just empty space. Chris jumped. As long as he got in the attic,the attic door closed. Our effort to open it once again and to break it proved to be useless.
Noises came from the attic;it looked like Chris was fighting with something. We tried to get to the other side of the mansion. We found another attic door. We tried to open it,but it was useless. Knowing that Chris was alone,we kept exploring the mansion. Like the previous time,we found just six bedrooms and two bathrooms,an exact copy of the other side.

We decided to return back to the hallway where Chris disappeared. We heard the noises of something smashing the attic door. The attic door was finally broken. I was shocked when i saw a dead gigantic dog falling down,quickly followed by Chris. He was coughing a lot and his eyes were watering. "Those bastards tried to kill me. They made me fought with a pair of those dogs. Then,when they saw that i won,they tried to kill me with a poisonous gas. I managed to break the attic door by smashing it with one of the dead dogs."

"Let me guess,you found no one,right?"i asked.

"The room was empty. Those bastards are hid somewhere else"Chris said.

"I think i know why"Duncan said. "Previously,i saw a greenhouse behind the mansion. Maybe there's some kind of passage there."

"That greenhouse surely contain some trap,but we have no choice"i said.

The greenhouse was full of exotic plants,some of which i never saw even in books. They were magical,i could sense it. The greenhouse was divided in two areas;one was full of plants,while the other was probably used as a storage room. In every case,i would had saw it quickly. I was getting closer to the door where i heard a strange noise. Before i could react,green tentacles captured me.
The others were captured too. With incredible strength,the plants lifted us and started to crush our bodies. Moreover,i was starting to feel sleepy. A sweet smell was in the air. Some plants were radiating pheromones that made my sleepy. I couldn't get defeated. I managed to reach the knife in my pocket. Desperate,i started to scratch the plant by moving my wrist. The plant finally left me,making me fell on the ground.

The pheromones were starting to have effect on me. I became slow and more sleepy than before,so tired that i could barely move. With my remaining strength,i stabbed the plant that was crushing me. Then,i headed toward the plant that was crushing Duncan.
Duncan had my same idea. The plant released him. He was tired and slow too,but not as i was,since his body was handling pheromones better. Luckily,Chris managed to get free of the plant. With superhuman strength,Chris tensed his whole body and then,with incredible explosivity,he expanded,breaking the tentacle that was crushing him.
Chris lunged toward the plant that was crushing Don. He sank his fingers in the tentacle and he squeezed,ripping it into pieces. We quickly got out of the greenhouse,in need to catch a breath of fresh air.

I sat on the ground and i breathed deeply. I was glad that i was away from those plants and from that smelly pheromones. After some minutes of rest,i got up,determinate to find whatever the greenhouse was hiding. We rushed inside the greenhouse;we quickly understood what plants were emanating pheromones. I rose my knife and i started to slash it. The action was releasing a horrible substance,smelly,that was making my eyes watering.
After we eliminated the plant,we opened the door of the second area. As i thought,it was used as a storage room. "There must be something else around here"i said. We started to search. Eventually,Don found a secret passage,hid beneath an heavy container.

"You could had helped me push it"Don said.

"Hey,I'm not a genie,i need some rest too"Chris said.

Beneath us,there was an underground passage. There was it,the entrance to the Dark Trinity secret lair. Careful to don't slip,i started to walk down the stairs. I got down until i reached a door. I opened it.

Chapter 20 end