A thin plume of dark purple smoke appeared out of nowhere and swirled around the room, finally landing nearly ten feet in front of Ash and Gabriel. After a few seconds, the smoke began to take form, transforming into a woman. The woman was stunning. Her blazing red hair trailed down to her waist, and her emerald green eyes flickered violently with lust. In addition to her looks, the woman's pale pink corset and skin-tight ankle length skirt left little to the imagination, hugging her curves and flattering her ample bust in ways that most men would think impossible. Desite the display, neither man was impressed.
"Aleera..." Gabriel sneered, tightening his grip on his sword. The woman lent a smirk and smiled, revealing a mouth full of yellow, bloodstained teeth.
"Gabriel," she chortled. "You clean up nicely. It's sweet of you to drop by for a visit-"
She paused to look Ashley up and down, then licked her lips. Once again, her eyes flickered with lust. They promised that she would do things that no woman had ever done to him before. Like rip his head off.
"-And bring a little snack along with you."
"Cut the shit, lady." Ash said, his eyes narrowing on the woman before him. "Just tell us where you took Nitaliyah. We can do this the easy way or the hard way."
Gabriel's blood boiled even more when the vampire threw her head back and laughed, once again vibrating the room. Ash she pulled her head back to face them, her face had transformed from drop-dead gorgeous to absoloutely hideous. Her once brown eyes had no lids or pupils, and were now soulless, yellow orbs. Her cheeks were sunken in, and her full, sensuous lips had somehow deflated then shrank horrifically, bearing her long, discolored fangs. Both men had seen this before.
"You think I'm going to tell you?" she cackled demonically, lifting her arms and propelling herself into the air. Gabriel sighed and glared over at him.
"Haven't you learned anything from these bitches?" he muttered, shifting his gaze into the air while unsheathing his sword. "They never do things the easy way."
Another screeching cackle escaped the vampire demon, and she stretched her hands ot towards them, as if beckoning them to come forth.
"Of course we do, Gabriel". she said, shaking her still-human body lustfully."I'll offer you a deal. I'll tell you where your precious little girl is, provided that you survive a play-date with our...pet."
"Your pet? What the-?"
Before Gabriel could finish his sentence, the vampiress vanished into thin air, leaving nothing but a shrieking cackle. The room jolted downward, knocking both men off balance. Their stomachs dropped as the earth beneath them began to tremble, and the room seemed to move. Ashley had felt this before.
"Holy shit..." he said, cocking his shotgun."This place is an elevator."
After a few tense seconds, the room came to a slow halt, and before the men could rise to their feet, a loud roar tore through the chamber. A door on the far side of the room flew open, and heavy footsteps plodded towards them. They both stared up in disbelief.
It stood on two legs. The thing was at least ten feet tall, and its weight was mostly muscle. The creature's body was predominantly covered in hair, and was nude, except for a crude pair of cloth breeches and what looked like a broken collar hanging loosely around its neck. What struck them as the oddest was the creature's face. Its ears stood out on both sides of the creature's head, and were pressed against its skull. Its nose was elongated, almost snout-like...as if it was a dog of some kind. The creature's dark lips were drawn back into a ferocious snarl, and there was no mistaking the murder lurking in its blazing golden eyes. This was the type of thing Ash had only read about.
The door slammed shut as quickly as it opened, and the werewolf glanced back confused. It soon turned its rage back on Ash and Gabriel. The creature's jaws opened, and within seconds, a beastly howl escaped the beast, filling the room with a howl neither man had never witnessed.
Within an instant, both men rushed towards the wild beast, both their weapons drawn. Unsurprisingly, the creature saw through their tactic. With one powerful swoop, the creature's left paw slammed into Ash, sending him colliding against the wall and onto the floor. Ash groaned and rolled over, pretty sure something inside him was bleeding. The impact was so severe he wasn't sure whose bones were broken; his own or the corpse he had crashed into.
"I guess that didn't work too well..." he groaned, gripping his possibly broken.
"Gee, you THINK?"
Ash looked up through bleary eyes to see Gabriel trapped in the beast's grip, struggling to free himself.
"Ashley, my sword!" the older man grunted, gesturing to the weapon laying on the floor.
As Gabriel was neared toward the hideous monster's mouth, he couldn't help but notice the familiar stench of rotting meat, as well as the large chunks of flesh and bone matted into its dirty, unkempt hair. Judging by the fact that some of the particles had aged, the beast had been here for quite some time. Even though he was trying his best to escape, the monster gripped him even harder each time he struggled. Gabriel gritted his teeth and closed his eyes as he heard his bones crack under the beast's crushing strength.
Ash slid across the room and grabbed the large sword. His eyes searched for a good target, and within seconds, he found one. With van Helsing's sword grasped firmly in hand, Ash rushed towards the beast's leg, driving the blade into the wolf's muscle tendon. For effect, Ash twisted the hilt and brutally jerked the blade outwards, sending blood and tissue spilling onto the floor.
A sudden painful yelp jolted Gabriel's eyes open. Before he knew it, he was on the ground on all fours; stinging air surging into his lungs. The blood rushing to his head caused the world to spin, and for a minute, he was disoriented. As reality finally slid into focus, he saw the creature's back turned to him; Ashley was standing in front of it, taunting it with his shotgun. It was a miracle he hadn't been torn to shreds yet.
"Come get some, Cujo!" Ash laughed maniacally, trying his best to stave off the giant creature.
As much as he wanted to pull the trigger, in the half of a second it would have took him to aim and shoot, there was the possibility of being ripped in half. An idea formed in his mind, and he grinned.
Ash held his breath and pulled the trigger, missing the creature, but sending it stumbling into the center of the room in shock. By now, the thing was howling and gripping its ears; he could even see blood spurting through its fingers. After stumbling a few steps, the beast collapsed onto the floor, kneeling and howling. Apparently, canines didn't respond well when someone set off a firearm within close range. While the beast was stunned, Ash threw the older man his sword and nodded.
"NOW! While it's down!"
Gabriel didn't need any more instruction. Building up speed, the forty-something leaped into the air and landed on the beast's hide, driving it square into the monster's back. Another piercing screech escaped the creature; this one more out of agony than rage. As Gabriel felt the life draining from his victim, he drove his blade in deeper and deeper, just to make sure. Thick spurts of blood flew from the beast's body, further staining its fur.
The injured animal howled once more and tried to rid itself of Gabriel's weight, bucking against the older man like an enraged bull. After a few seconds, Gabriel let go of the sword's hilt and was thrown off its back, hitting the floor with a hard thud. For a few seconds he seemed in a daze; it took him seconds to register the fact that a few bones had been broken. Stars began to flash before his eyes, and through involuntary tears, Gabriel saw the monster stalking towards him. Its snarl had grown even more ferocious, and the intensity in its eyes had become more determined. The old man knew that the beast was hell-bent on not only killing him, but making him suffer in the process.
Another ear-piercing shot rang out from behind the beast, and before Gabriel could react, dark chunks of brain matter and skull fragments coated the floor before him. The old man looked up to see that the creature had been shot in the head. Half its skull had been obliterated, but the creature still moved around drunkenly before settling inches away from Gabriel. A final weak yelp escaped the creatue's lips as its body began to convulse, and thick wisps of smoke poured from its wounds. It began to sound like an injured puppy, to the point that Gabriel almost began to feel sorry for it. The cries ceased and the animal's body began to disintegrate; its body transforming from muscle and bone to solid ash within seconds.
Ashley glanced around the room and he loaded another shell into the barrel. Silver bullets...she'd made them especially for him. He smiled to himself, then glanced over at Gabriel. The old man gave him a grateful nod before rising to his feet and pulling his sword from the pile of dust.
"Where is my daughter?" he growled, raising the weapon.
"We played your game. NOW WHERE IS SHE?"
At that moment, the room came to a screeching halt. A door ahead of them had swung open powerfully, emitting a powerful glow into the room. Beyond the threshold lay a well-lit hallway, much like the one they had traveled through to reach the cellar. Once again, wisps of smoke began to swirl around the room, followed by an unearthly cackle they had heard before. Both their heads turned to see Aleera's figure reappear behind them. Her face was human once again, and twisted into a ferocious grin. She laughed and clapped her hands joyously.
"Congratulations, boys." she chuckled. "I have to say...your performance was most impressive."
In an instant, Ash felt his heart drop, and his neck burn red-hot. As the seconds passed, the past few days flitted through his mind in rapid succession; from the time of the invasion, the vortex, being trapped here, the pain in Nitaliyah's beautiful eyes...
A shitty, truly fucked up dream...
Ash roared and rushed into the vampiress, giving her absolutely no time to react. He firmly gripped her throat with his iron gauntlet, so hard that blood trickled onto her collarbone. His eyes grew dark with rage, and every part of his body was surging with hatred.
"I'm going to ask you politely..." he growled, tightening his grip with each word. "Where...is she?"
The vampiress chuckled, spitting blood at him as she did. She narrowed her eyes on his; Ash could tell this bitch knew something he didn't.
"Why would I tell you, stupid mortal?" she sneered, laughing. "You have no idea how important tonight is to us and our kind."
Ash gritted his teeth and yelled in frustration, releasing his grip on the woman. She sank to the floor, still laughing. Anger surging through his veins, Ash paced over to Gabriel. Despite the old man's objections, he grabbed the sword and turned back towards the wounded female lying before him. With a fiendish grip, Ash grabbed her by her throat once again, this time holding the blade close to her cheek. He could see tiny wisps of smoke rise as the pure silver blade touched her skin.
"One more time..." he whispered thickly, his voice coated with venom. "Where...is...Nitaliyah?"
Another low chuckle escaped the undead bitch, and blood began to trickle from the sides of her mouth.
"It doesn't matter." she whispered back. "Your pretty little whore is one of us now."
His eyes immediately widened, and a slew of disturbing thoughts flitted through his mind, each one worse than the last. Ashley wasn't the most religious man on the planet, but right now, he prayed to God that this wasn't true. Without a word, he shook his head and stared into her soulless green eyes.
"You didn't..." he growled, his eyebrows furrowing. Ash's blood ran cold as she laughed dryly.
"I didn't, but Vladimir did." she sneered, her eyes burning bright red. "Our prince turned that girl into a woman; he made your peasant our queen. I stood outside the chamber door when he broke her maidenhead. Her screams were almost as sweet as her virgin blood."
Another toothy grin passed across her face, and she began to laugh even more. Ash could feel his blood rushing through his veins at top-speed. His mind continually flitted to images of Nitaliyah; how she'd helped him, how she guided him. She needed him the most, and where was he? Unconscious, in chains, and running in circles. At this point, Ash decided that he was almost as useless as the woman locked in his grip. He shook his head rapidly, his gauntlet coiling around her neck. This wasn't true...it just wasn't true. Nitaliyah was supposed to be strong. She was supposed to survive all this. She was supposed to get married, have kids, and grow old...hopefully with him.
After a few seconds of painful silence, something in his mind snapped.
"LYING BITCH!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, drawing his free hand back and weilding the sword like a butcher's knife.
In a fit of undescribable rage and impressive strength, he aimed the blade at her face. She was still laughing when Ashley drove the blade between the vampire's lips, impaling her through her mouth and deeply piercing the wall behind her. Her teeth exploded on impact, sending chunks of bloody yellow enamel crashing to the floor. A sickening gurgle wormed its way out of her windpipe as blood gushed from her throat and trailed down the front of her dress in violent black torrents. Though she had died instantly, her eyes still zoomed around the room unblinking. Ash watched as her flesh burned away to reveal her skeleton, which soon crumbled away. After a few seconds, only a crumpled pink dress lie on the dungeon floor. He gripped the hilt of the sword and powerfully pulled the sword from the stone wall.
"What did she say? Anything important?"
As he turned to face Gabriel, all he could feel was cold numbness all over his body. The only feeling he had was in the pit of his chest, which was surging with a white-hot hatred he had only felt a handful of times before. Ashley knew that the old man loved Nitaliyah far more than he did. She was his little girl; the only thing that most likely kept him anchored to sanity. Hell, he hadn't seen her since she was a kid and had been reunited with her just hours ago. What the hell was Ash supposed to say?
Ash wordlessly handed Gabriel the sword and walked a few feet past him. His stomach flipped violently, and it took all he had to keep himself from crying. With his back turned to Gabriel , he bit his lower lip and shook his head. Ash closed his eyes and took a silent breath.
"We have to keep moving." he murmured, heading towards the open doorway.