imagination Oldrey was quite worried. Coller had meanwhile not awakened. He still lay in his bed frozen in an unnatural sleep. Oldrey was even more worried about that. While he slept Oldrey had dreamt of things that he couldn't believe. There had been a woman beckoning him to act on his suspicions. But when Oldrey returned to the archives and looked at the crest in his hands, he felt his suspicions scare him.
Nevertheless he heard a voice calling him from beyond. "Son!" It called. Over and over he heard the voice calling him, sometimes by name. He wasted no time in his preparations. Mary and Henry he had instructed to stay in the master bedroom. There he instructed that Coller be moved to so that Mary could watch over him. Oldrey felt that if anything went wrong then God willing Coller would awake and protect his family. The remaining servants he instructed to remain in their quarters. The only exception was Victor whom he asked to accompany him. At that moment Oldrey and Victor stood before the gate of the Garden Maze entrance. Under his arm Oldrey held the crest.
"Where are we going?" Victor asked.
"Remember the door that we could never open? I had you arrange the garden to grow around it."
"Yes sir."
"Well I think this is key."
"Are you sure you want to open it?"
Oldrey opened the gate and said as he walked in, "I think my father
is behind the door." Victor
followed him looking up at the sky asking God to watch over them. Unfortunately,
instead of finding a clear blue sky he found a dark blue, almost pitch
black, sky with a bright blood red moon. Victor caught up with his master
thinking that even on a night such as this a former championship boxer
is afraid to be alone.
Mary soaked the towel again in the bucket of hot water. Coller's
forehead was freezing and she
was attempting to keep him warm. Meanwhile Henry continued to question
his mother about his father.
"When will he be back?"
"Soon Henry, soon."
"Where did he go?"
"He went somewhere with Victor, that's all."
"Why did he tell everyone to stay in their rooms?"
"I don't know. Henry be a dear and soak this towel for me."
"Yes mama." Henry took the towel and soaked it and handed it back to her. "Can I go?"
"Absolutely not. You have to stay with me."
"Mama, I'm 12 years old. Almost 13!"
"I know you're a big man now but I need you her dear. For my sake.
For my piece of mind. Do
you understand? Henry?" Mary froze for a moment when she heard no reply.
Then she turned…
"Henry!"
Oldrey and Victor stood before the mysteriously locked door. In
the past Victor had tried many
times to open the door. But in all the years he has tried it has never
budged an inch. The door itself seemed to be made from solid oak wood but
it strength was beyond anything a common door should have.
Oldrey asked Victor to place one of the crest halves in a depression in the center of the door. "A perfect fit," Oldrey said as the half slid into place. Victor looked up at the darkened sky and then to Oldrey. "Are you sure that you want to do this master?" Oldrey nodded and Victor slowly slid the second half into place. A soft clicking noise was made from within the door. Then Oldrey and Victor jumped at a sudden crack of thunder, which covered the sound of the door creaking open. Beyond the door was darkness but not total. A light could be seen emanating from within. Oldrey slowly crept in despite Victor's whispered warnings. Victor felt the first drops of rain on his head as he watched Oldrey disappear into the doorway.
He pulled his machete from its sheath and followed the Master Oldrey.
Inside was a long staircase leading downwards. Oldrey was already
halfway down when Victor
entered. His quickly caught up behind him, his steps echoing throughout.
Oldrey shushed him. "What does he expect to find here?" Victor wondered.
At the bottom, the staircase opened up into a vast chamber. On the sides
of the chamber were bars. Beyond those bars was more darkness.
"Dungeons," Oldrey said.
"What?"
"This the castle dungeon Victor. This is where Vlad Dracula kept
his prisoners. These dungeons
weren't kept occupied too long."
"Why?"
"That's why," Oldrey said, pointing towards something that Victor
had not noticed standing next
to him. Human remains hanging and wrapped around a pole. Oldrey inspected
the skeletal remains more closely as Victor turned away in disgust. "He
impaled most of his enemies and put them on display in order to scare away
invading armies. These were left here so that those prisoners who were
being held would know their fate. After so many years these remains have
almost merged with the pole. The result isn't too appealing. You can still
see the twisted faces of anguish on these skulls." Oldrey looked at Victor,
"They called him 'Vlad the Impaler' for good reason. Come one, let see
what else is here."
They slowly walked deeper into the dungeon chamber, both not knowing
what to make of the
unusual torches that provided light to the dungeon. Torches with a
light purplish flame. Oldrey dared not speculate their origin or how they
could have remained alight for so long. Finally an elevated platform came
into view. Laying on the platform was a coffin.
"Sir, there is nothing more for us to find here. We need not go
on." Victor pleaded. But his
pleadings went unheard for Oldrey was listening to something that defied
his scientific logic. A voice from what seemed beyond the grave.
"Son," it said. Oldrey walked up to the platform and blew the dust off the top of the coffin. Under the dust was a gold plate with writing on it. "Master please, whoever is in the coffin is dead and does not want his eternal rest disturbed."
"I must know Victor!" Then Oldrey read the name aloud, "De Rais."
Henry hated to leave his mother alone, but he felt that his father
needed him more now. He had
no idea why went straight to the maze but he did. So now he stood in
the rain looking for his father in the garden maze. He thought hard about
where he might have gone. Then it occurred to him. "That unbreakable door!"
Henry thought. He began to run in the direction of the door but suddenly
stopped at the sound of a gentle voice. He turned but still did not see
where the voice was from. "Follow me." The voice said. Henry didn't want
to follow the voice but something about it forced him to. It was a woman's
voice. Hypnotic like the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.
So Henry did as it said. He followed the invisible voice all over the garden
maze until finally he reached the fenced area. It was his mother's other
personal garden to which she tended alone. The gate opened of its own accord
and Henry walked in. A light shined on a small spot of the garden. Henry
knelt and heard the voice say, "dig."
"Master Oldrey! Jeremiah! We must leave this place! Don't you understand it is evil!" Victor had yelled at Oldrey for what seemed like an eternity. Finally he grabbed Oldrey by the shoulder and dragged him away from the coffin that he had been slouched over for the past five minutes. Slowly he made his way in the direction of the stairs with Oldrey dangling behind, muttering something about his father.
Then Victor heard a noise. He stopped and looked around but saw nothing.
He heard the noise again. This time he recognized it. It was flapping.
Again he started to move towards the stairway, this time almost running.
He struggled to keep Oldrey on his feet. The sound of thunder echoed through
the chamber, as did the flapping. Finally at the bottom of the stairwell
Victor stopped in awe. When they had come down, the stairway had been lit
by the unnatural light. Now it was completely shrouded in black. But there
was something odd. The blackness seemed to be moving and moving towards
them. Victor ducked to the ground and brought Oldrey down with him as thousands
and thousands of bats came flying down the stairs. But ducking in the ground
did not help. The bats picked at Victor in all places. He got up and started
to swing his machete, slashing bats left and right. Their blood spilt all
over the floor but the bats continued to barrage him. He pushed further
and further back into the chamber until finally he tripped and fell onto
the stairs of the coffin's platform. Bats suddenly began to grasp at his
clothes. Despite all his
efforts Victor felt himself being pulled off the ground. The bats had
him hovering ten feet above. Still Victor swung his machete until he saw
Oldrey approaching again. He tried to yell at Oldrey to try and convince
him once more but the bats then pulled his arms over his head and he screamed
in pain.
A bat bit his hand and his machete dropped to the ground. Victor finally stopped struggling when another figure emerged from the shadows.
"Henry! Get out! Get out of here!" But the boy was not listening.
The boy listened to the gentle
voice that had guided him to his father. All he had to do was dig up
the old book that the woman had told him about.
"Hand your father the book Henry. Hand him the Necronomican,"
said the gentle voice. And so
Master Oldrey took the book from his son's dirt filled hands and opened
the book. Oldrey listened to the other voice. He turned to the page that
he said and pronounced the words exactly like the voice did. Soon the ground
began to shake. What seemed like a wave of lightning began to emerge from
coffin and flow throughout the island. Everything was touched. As it touched
Oldrey and Henry the sound of the commanding voices they had heard faded
ever so slightly as both the voices laughed. Suddenly Henry turned to his
father, alive with question as to what had happened.
"Papa! All I remember is hearing a voice and I had to what it
said or I would never see you
again! Papa what's happening?"
"Shush Henry! Let me think. I don't know what has happened either."
Oldrey then looked up to
where Victor sill hovered. "Victor!"
"Get out sir! Take Henry with you and go!"
It was then that the lid of the coffin flew open. Oldrey turned
to his son, "run Henry! Find your
mother!" Tears rolled down his cheeks as he protested.
"No Papa! I'm staying with you!"
"Please son, go. For me, please go." He looked into his son's
eyes one last time. He wiped the
tears away and turned him around. Tears ran down Oldrey's cheeks as
he watched him go. "God protect him," he said under his breath. Now he
returned his mind to the task at hand, getting Victor down and getting
out of this hellish place alive. Any ridiculous notion that his father
might be down here was mysteriously absent from his mind. He picked up
his machete and looked up towards Victor. He was about to call to him when
suddenly…
"My son."
Jeremiah turned slowly to the sound of the mysterious voice. Standing
calmly behind him, as
though this was not the underground dungeon of infamous Vlad Dracula
III, was and elderly gentleman dressed in a red velvet suit. His skin was
pale and his hair black eyes green like emerald.
"F…father?"
"My son," the man said. He slowly put his hands on Jeremiah's face. Then holding his face in his hands he looked around observing his surroundings as though it were the first time he had ever seen them, or perhaps the first time in a long time. "I never believed in a thousand years I would return." He looked up and closed his eyes inhaling the centuries old air of the dungeon. Jeremiah looked into the man's face and then placed his hands over the old man's. The man's hands suddenly went cold. His appearance changed too. He was no longer the elderly gentleman in the clean-cut suit. His skin became gray and suddenly he was dressed in a medieval suit of armor. His whole appearance became something from another time. Jeremiah almost exclaimed loudly but the medieval man clasped his hand over his mouth.
"Be silent my son, be very silent." Then Jeremiah Oldrey felt a slight
pinch in his neck and then
everything went black.
Coller woke up to a wailing woman. His vision was blurry and he was disoriented. It toke him a few moments and several hard punches to his back to realize that the woman was Mary Oldrey. He grabbed her hands and tried to calm her but the tears from her eyes continued.
"Mary what is wrong? How long have I been asleep?"
"P…please Coller. Henry…"
"What about Henry?"
"He's gone!"
"Where? Where has he gone and where is Jeremiah?"
Coller couldn't deal with this woman in this state. Unfortunately
in all his experience he only
knew of one way to snap a woman out of this. He slapped her across
the face, "get a hold of yourself woman!" She stopped crying but continued
to whimper. She clutched her face where Coller had slapped her, "I'm sorry
but…it's just that Henry…"
"I know. I'm sorry too lass. But tell me, where are my guns?"
"Under the bed."
Coller found his guns and strapped on his belt. He found his coat
on a coat hanger and threw it
over his shoulder. He turned to Mary who was still sitting on the bed,
crying softly. He held his hand out to her, "we will find, but I will need
your help."
"All right," Mary said, taking his hand.
Together they crept out of the room quietly. Coller pulled one
of his pistols from his holster and
looked down both hallways. He looked at Mary and asked her softly,
"where do you think they went?"
"The maze garden I think. Jeremiah seemed to think that the piece you had picked out had something to do with this door he had never been able to open before."
"All right then, you lead the way. But I'll go in first, understand?"
Mary nodded and led Coller down one of the hallways. The third
door on the left Mary pointed to and Coller understood that it was his
turn now. Coller looked up and down the hallway and then breathed in heavily
as he pulled out his second pistol from its holster. Then with one good
thrust from his boot his kicked the door open and went flying in. inside
the room was a long one with three curtained windows. A few fancy chairs
decorated the side opposite the windows. At the end of the room were a
few pillars, beyond which was a smaller room with a drawer and two more
fancy chairs. The door Coller had kicked open was on the far side of the
room opposite the pillared section. Almost immediately next to him was
another double door. Mary pointed to the doors and this time slowly opened
one of the doubles doors, which creaked open loudly. "The door at the bottom
lead to the garden entrance," Mary said pointing to the stairway in front
of them. Coller and Mary slowly went down the stairs until finally reaching
the door
that Mary had spoken of. At the foot of the stairs Mary almost shrieked
but Coller clasped his hand over her mouth. He whispered to her, "what?"
Mary then pointed to a golden armored statue that stood in the corner.
"That wasn't there before."
Coller opened the door peeked outside and then gently pushed Mary
outside keeping his gun
aimed at the motionless statue. Outside Coller heard Mary exclaim,
"Henry!" Coller turned around to see Mary opening the entrance of the garden
maze with a key. Beyond the fenced entrance he could see the familiar figure
of Henry running towards his mother. Coller started to move with lightening
speed.
"Mary wait!"
"Mama!" Henry embraced his mother. There were still tears in his eyes from watching what happened to Victor and having to leave his father alone. "Mama, please we have to go back and save Papa! This old woman told me to dig up this old book and give it to Papa. And these bats flew all over the place and they have Victor hanging…"
"Shussh, its alright Henry. Everything will be all right. Mr. Coller is going to take of us and together we are going to find your father." Mary wiped the tears away from her child's face and for the first time in what seemed like ages both of them smiled. They hugged each other tightly until Coller broke the loving moment.
"I'm afraid we won't have to go far, look!" Coller pointed ahead as several figures approached them. One of them was a rusty armor clad warrior, the other was Victor who was being held with both arms behind him by a figure that Coller could not see. The last was someone who looked like Oldrey, only darker.
"Jeremiah?"
"Papa?"
Coller looked into the eyes of the man who was undoubtedly Master
Oldrey but knew that
something had changed him. Then he looked at Henry, "Henry, get out
of here."
"No! its Papa!"
"Mary that thing is not your husband. Now if you love your son you will go and get him out of here!"
Mary looked into her son's eyes. Once again they were filled with
tears. The eyes told her that
her son could not bear to leave his parents once more. But Mary knew
deep down that he must. "Henry, you must be strong. For me and you father,
wherever he is. You must be strong."
"Mama, I'm not leaving you!"
"Your not. I will find you all right? You are just going to hide from these bad men for awhile. Then later, when we find you father we will all come and get you. Okay. " Her son merely shook his head left and right never stopping and continually muttering, "no!"
With a voice raised higher than she had ever had to Mary said finally, "Henry go. If you want to see us all again, go. I swear I will see you again." Henry turned once again. Almost exactly like he had only a few moments ago when his father had told him to do the same. And so Henry ran, he ran as fast as he could to hide and wait.
"Mary you too, get out of here!"
"No, I have to know what happened to my husband."
"Damn it woman! Would you so quickly break the promise you just made to your son?"
Mary did not answer. Suddenly Coller with his pistols aimed at
the approaching figures felt
something shake beneath him. He looked at Mary who felt the same. The
without warning skeletal hands reached out from underneath the ground and
grabbed at them. Coller struggled but could not budge them.
"My wife," a voice said. Mary looked horrified at the source. It was indeed Oldrey. But where once he had a face full of life and hair brown as the earth that he dug up so often, now he had blue gray skin and eyes green like emerald but dead and devoid of life.
"Jeremiah?"
Then the armor-clad man spoke. "No! The man that was your husband
is no more. There is no
more Jeremiah Oldrey. From now on he shall take on his true name. The
name of his family, Or De Rais." Jeremiah, now Or, did not speak. At this
point Coller could see now who was holding Victor, a skeleton.
Mary screamed at the sight of the undead warrior. Coller was preparing to fire his gun at the armored one when another skeletal hand reached up to grab his hands. The skull warrior was now fully out of the ground as was the one holding Mary. Coller struggled but not too hard. He was biding his time using only half of his true force to keep the illusion of being caught.
"Who are you black-hearted heathen bastards and where is Gen?"
The armored one looked perplexed. "Gen?" This made Coller roar
as though he had been thrust
in the heart with a sword. He had come all this way in hope of finding
some clue as to where his love was being hidden and the villains didn't
even know who she was.
"Actrise you bitch! I swear to God I'll send you to the devil!" The armored one thrust his armored glove into Coller's chest that made him moan only slightly with physical pain. Then the armored one looked up.
"Actrise! What do you know of this Gen?" Then as if on cue, Coller heard Actrise's voice riding on the wind.
"A game my dear Gilles De Rais. You know how I enjoy playing games."
"Yes. But I wish you wouldn't waste so much time with them. You yourself could have brought me back! But no, you had to use these mortals!"
"You're among us again aren't you? Then stop complaining."
The armored one whom Coller now knew as Gilles De Rais then began to move his arms around as though he were testing their strength or as though he had never been in his body before. He walked up to Coller and looked him in the eyes as he spoke.
"Being a creature of hell for the past thousand years, I'm a little rusty with using my own body. The bones are brittle and the body isn't as strong. Being a vampire has its advantages but the dependence on blood for life can be a nuisance. But we all now there is a solution to that, don't we?" Gilles looked up, "are you done with him witch?"
"No. Leave him."
Gilles licked his teeth and then turned away from Coller. Coller then looked up, "you'll never get anything else out of me witch!"
Actrise suddenly materialized in front of Coller, "I think otherwise
Hunter. So long as I have
your little woman I think you'll jump through what fires I have in
store for you."
"Witches," Gilles muttered. "Could you get on with the damned incantation? My Master does not like to kept waiting!"
Actrise smiled at Coller and began to speak in the same demonic
tongue she had spoken in the
cavern. Then with that scepter of hers she began to wave her arms in
a circular motion. Her eyes closed and she breathed a cloud of smoke from
her mouth and nostrils. The cloud then became larger and floated above
them. From high in the sky one would be able to see as the cloud enveloped
the island. As it swept over the villa, servants and maids began to scream
in agony as an unquenchable thirst overcame them and a cloud of darkness
came over their vision. Many of them knocked the candles off their holders
no longer being able to stand their dim light. Other began to break windows
as the image of their distorted faces faded from mirrors. They clawed at
themselves with their sharp nails. All over the servants quarters, madness
was amuck. In the garden maze Coller and Mary remained unaffected and could
almost hear their screams. Then they looked as Victor began to scream in
agony himself. But his fate was different from those of the other servants.
His skin went dark gray and his eyeballs became black as night. The life
essence of the friendly gardener was drained from the body until all
that was left was a lifeless corpse with the strength of a championship
boxer. After the skull warrior released Victor the shaking began. A light
almost as bright as the sun shone down upon the island. All them even the
skull warriors looked up as a golden vortex opened above them. Gilles and
Actrise smiled as the earth shook. Then from all the gold light came a
red snake-like creature. It swept all around the island leaving no stone
unturned. Slowly from the remains of a long destroyed castle arose another.
Wall grew from beneath the earth and surrounded the villa. All around the
villa stone, steel, and concrete formed from nothing to become something
not from this plane of existence.
Coller and Mary were awestruck. Or and Victor did not seem affected by their new surroundings, Actrise smiled proudly, and Gilles looked disappointed. Actrise looked at him for a moment. "I like the old one better."
It's always different you sentimental fool."
"Yes but there should always be a prominent keep for my prince."
Actrise looked at him once more, "its there, you just can't see
it." Coller took this opportunity to
show his captors how immobilized he really was. He flipped the skull
warrior over his back and into the quarrelling pair and made to knock the
skull warrior off Mary so they could escape but Victor stepped in and grabbed
him by the neck. His hold was so tight that Coller felt his hands go numb
and his guns fell from his hands. He could feel himself becoming lightheaded.
With his last ounce of strength he pulled Victor's machete from its sheath.
Mary screamed as Coller fell to the ground, Victor's forearm still attached
to Coller's neck. Coller quickly grabbed one of his pistols and fired a
round right at Victor's heart. The giant boxer stumbled and fell backwards
to the ground. Leaping towards him like a tiger was Or De Rais. In mid
air Coller shot him, which sent him flying back into one of the grass walls
of the maze.
"Jeremiah!"
"Mary forget him!"
Mary looked back at Coller, "I can't, go without me. Find and
protect Henry!" Then she knelt
down next to her husband. Coller had no choice. He shot the last skull
warrior that had been guarding Mary and ran. As he ran Gilles rose from
the ground and looked at the already standing Actrise.
"Why wasn't he turned like the others?"
"I'm not finished with him."
"And what about the mother and her son?"
"I want the father to turn them. If he turns them then we can be sure that he is wholly on our side."
"And the gardener?"
"He is or was strong in spirit. Now he shall lend us his physical strength. He is more useful as a servant than a vampire."
"You should have turned the Hunter."
Actrise watched as Coller faded from sight. "It doesn't matter where
he runs to now. It's too late for all of them. The castle has returned,
and it is never leaving again."
Chapter 12: Hamlet People