Author's Note: Another chapter! I hope that description of that room isn't too explicit for teen rating, otherwise I will have to switch it to Mature. Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!
The girl was surrounded by the darkness.
Where was she? In one second she's charging at the magician to finish her off and in the next second everything went dark.
She patted herself to check if she still had everything in her place.
Nothing out of place. Perhaps she was teleported somewhere? But where exactly? The magician didn't look like she had much power left in her, so she most likely teleported her somewhere close. Maybe basement of the mansion?
A sudden horrible stench interrupted her train of thought.
It was like a combination of mold, blood and rotten meat.
The stench was nauseating, she had to block her nostrils with a finger pinch and breath through the mouth.
She opened her satchel and took a small lantern from it. Thankfully, it was still intact after all this sudden movements.
She lighted it up and saw a horrible sight.
There was a huge number of bones, both of humans and animals, there was also a large amount of dried blood on the floor, she also noticed that there were a few corpses that were still in the process of decomposing.
That explains the stench and what happened to the kidnapped people.
She suddenly heard a childish giggle.
The girl looked around her but couldn't see anything.
-So they sent me a new plaything? How generous of them.
The huntress looked in the direction of the voice and saw some kind of multiple colored glowing crystals floating in the air in the darkness.
No... They weren't floating, they were part of something. She finally noticed two red glowing orbs staring at her.
A vampire.
She quickly grabbed her knife and took a fighting stance. She had to fight through the stench.
The vampire charged at her, the girl quickly aimed her knife to block the strike.
But the attack wasn't aimed at her.
Her lantern got whipped from her hand and smashed to the pieces, light dimming down completely.
She was again surrounded in complete darkness.
The huntress once again heard a voice from the darkness.
-A challenge for you, if you can survive five minutes with me here, I'll spare you. Let the games begin.
She was at a huge disadvantage here, while vampires could see perfectly in the dark, she couldn't. She had to rely on her other senses to survive this.
The girl heard something running at her to her left.
The huntress remembered that there were bones and corpses around her. She couldn't evade without seeing her surroundings, otherwise she could easily trip and become an easier target. She had to block these hits.
The girl quickly took a stance to block the hit.
While she managed to block it, the impact was massive, she could barely keep her footing after such a hit.
She could hear the vampire retreating back.
Why? She could easily kill her now, but she just ran away.
The vampire was obviously just playing around with her, dealing a strong hit then retreating back.
After a few seconds, she heard running from behind.
Once again, she took a stance to block that hit.
This time, however, she wasn't that lucky.
The hit completely shattered her defense, causing her to collapse and her knife was sent flying somewhere far from her.
Yet the vampire still retreated back, however she laughed as she was running away.
The girl was furious, she was being humiliated by this vampire.
She got up and grabbed a second knife and prepared once again.
For the next four minutes, the same thing kept repeating.
The vampire would deal a strong hit to the huntress, in which she couldn't take the impact of the hit and would collapse on the floor, then the vampire would retreat than finish her off.
The girl once again stood up. Her body being sore everywhere from these hits, but she still wouldn't give up.
Suddenly, the vampire spoke again from the darkness.
-I'm done playing around, the next hit will be aiming to kill you, so you better think of something.
The thing being, the girl didn't know what she could do else. She couldn't evade, slowing time wouldn't do anything to lessen the impact.
If only she could damage the vision of the vampire somehow, so she could strike back...
Wait... Actually, she had one thing in her satchel that could do that. She only had one of these since it was supposed to be for emergencies. It was a risky plan, but there wasn't anything else, so she might as well try it.
She slowed the time in order to quickly collect items from her satchel.
She grabbed a metallic orb and silver bullet.
The girl loaded a silver bullet in her flintlock revolver and held the orb in her left hand.
She just had to wait for the vampire to strike.
Then she heard running in front of her.
She patiently waited until the vampire was close enough.
And then when she was close enough, she slowed time down and threw the orb on the floor, she quickly shielded her eyes.
The orb exploded in a huge flash of light, she could hear the vampire hiss in anger.
The girl looked again and saw her attacker clutching her eyes in the dim light from the orb. She was completely disoriented.
The huntress quickly aimed her revolver and fired at the head of the vampire.
The bullet hit her perfectly on the forehead. She stopped struggling and fell down almost immediately.
It was over. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her body was screaming at her to rest, but she couldn't. Not until she was done with her mission.
She then heard someone laughing and clapping close to her.
-Impressive! You managed to survive. You angered me quite a bit with that trick of yours, but I'll let it pass since you played with me.
Yes, indeed. She knew it wouldn't kill her. You have to destroy the heart, not the brain.
She stalled for the time, hoping that the vampire would be true to her word.
She heard the vampire running somewhere, then she came back after a second.
-Here, catch.
The vampire threw her something. The girl caught it.
It was a new small lantern. She lighted it up.
The huntress could take a good look at the vampire now.
The vampire had red eyes and short dirty blond hair, which was tied into a side ponytail. It looked like she hasn't cleaned it in a while. She was wearing a red dress and vest, both of them were dirty and covered in dried blood. She also had a pink mob cap with a red ribbon attached. There were also two branches sticking out from her back, there were colorful glowing crystals hanging on them.
She crossed her hands.
-So who are you? And why are you here?
She asked the huntress.
-I'm here to kill your mistress. She has caused a lot of trouble outside.
She raised eyebrow.
-My sister? How troublesome. Well, it's her problem, not mine. If you're looking for her, then she's most likely at her throne room. As soon as you exit the basement, head left until you get across the library, then keep heading left until you stumble across another double door. That's the throne room.
The huntress was surprised how easily the vampire gave her information. Did she hate her sister or something?
-You're probably wondering why I'm selling my sister out. Weeeelll, let's say that we aren't on the best terms right now. Don't get me wrong though, I still love my sister, so I won't help you defeat her or something. You would probably find her on your own anyway, so I'm just saving you a bit of trouble.
She offered her hand to the huntress.
-Come on, I'll show you the exit.
The girl grasped her hand.
She was surprised at how delicate the vampire's hand was. The same hand that on the impact was causing her to completely lose her balance.
The huntress met a lot of vampires during her hunts, but most of them couldn't even land a hit on her because of her superior reflexes from her power, and they weren't that bright in terms of intelligence.
But this one? She was smart enough to destroy her source of light before attacking and even if she was holding back, she still was strong enough to throw her off-balance every strike.
This vampire was capable of eliminating everybody outside without trouble, yet she hasn't done so.
The vampire guided the girl towards the exit.
She pointed at the staircase.
-These stairs lead back to first floor. Watch your step, though. The steps might be a bit slippery.
The girl nodded and stepped on the stairs.
-Let me warn you, though. My sister is extremely powerful, perhaps even more powerful than me in some ways. If you value your life, you probably should leave the mansion after exiting the basement.
The huntress glanced behind her.
-Thanks for the warning, but I'm not backing down.
The vampire shrugged.
-It's your choice, I only warned you because I took a liking to you. However, mark my words, if you manage to kill my sister, I will personally hunt you down, is that clear?
The girl chuckled dryly.
-I'll keep that in mind.
Author's Note: Metallic orb is direct reference to the Flash Bomb from Thief video game series.