Chapter 2

Bloodrust Mansion

Part 1

The same brown colored crow flew up in the sky. And like before, it was still watching the blonde haired girl and her talking sunflower partner.

It landed for a second on a tree branch, and finally start to rest its wings. Even for a bird, it still tiring to fly above the sky for countless of hours just to follow a girl running as fast as she can. Especially, if its a very hot midday.

After its little rest on the tree, it look for its target once more. However, when it do so, it realized that the blonde haired girl was gone. If she's gone for more than five minutes, there is no way for it to learn where she is unless it goes back up to the sky and see the whole Istrakan from above. And that will eat all of its energy.

So instead, the crow just jumped from the tree branch to the ground. But something weird happaned. The crow's body glowed in crimson color and when it hit the ground, it suddenly transformed into a wolf.

Like its crow form, the wolf also had a chocolate brown fur and a crimson red eyes. The only thing that makes this wolf different from others is it wears a tan colored cape on its back and some sort of headband like helmet on its forehead. Using its very sensitive nose, the wolf sniffed the ground, trying to find the scent of the blonde haired girl.

When a very familiar scent finally enter its nose, it ran deep inside the forest as fast as it can.

Part 2

The Solar Girl breath out a large amount of air.

Sweat was falling down from her cheek to the Crimson Scarf tied on her neck. Leaning on one of the large yet leafless tree next to her, she finally let her legs be weak and fall flat on the dusty ground. On her left hand, she holds her Gun Del Sol, which looks like it ran out of battery once again.

"I... I really don't want to do that again..." She said between her deep breathing.

Just what on earth happened to her?

Well, to tell the story, she suddenly trapped inside the forest together with 5 creatures that looks like a ball of clay that Otenko called 'Golems'. Since she can't find the exit to the forest, she have no choice than to fight all of them. However, right after she defeat the third golem using the Gun Del Sol's solar spread, it suddenly ran out of battery once again and since that the large trees cover the sunlight, she cant charge it inside. She also tried to fight them using her sword but for some odd reason, her sword 'slipped' out from her hands, leaving her to her last resort:

Run for the sake of her safely from two golems who was rolling on her direction as fast as a motorcycle.

Luckily, the two golems ran over each other, squeezing each other until they explode in tiny burst of clay. And that leads to our now exhaust Solar Girl.

"Sol are you okay?" Otenko asked with a very concerned look on his face.

"...I think I ran as fast as a cheetah... But rather than exhaustion, I'm fine..." She replied, forcing herself to give a grin at her sunflower partner. She keep on taking deep breath until she finally calmed down. Still sitting on the ground, Solana rises her right hand above her head, making sure that the sunlight will hit it.

"Taiyou..." She said but not like before, she doesn't shout it out. Her throat was too dry to shout out anything even that one word. Still, it looks like the sun heard her voice since the ray of sunshine centered at her like it was entering her body.

As the light stop centering on her, Sol force herself to stand up and look on the northern part of the forest.

It was a giant mansion. The gates were open, which only means one thing for her.

"Were here..." She said, glaring at the open metal gate right in the front of her. "Lets go, Master Otenko!" Without caring how tired she is, Sol still ran inside the giant mansion.

Part 3

The brown wolf stopped on his tracks when it see Sol enter the mansion.

Thinking that it doesn't have any business with the person or Immortal inside that giant mansion, the brown wolf just sat in the ground and start to remove the dirt on its paws. But not like any type of wolf that will lick its paws, the brown colored wolf rub both of its front paws together to remove the dirt.

Until something stopped it.

"Tell this message to him..." A voice suddenly spoke up. It was a voice of a woman. However, there is no one near the wolf's location. Its like the woman was speaking inside its head and no one else can hear it.

After the woman's voice inside the wolf's head finished giving orders, the wolf only responded with a simple nod. It jumped as high as it can before glowing in crimson color once more and transforming back to a crow.

The crow flew inside the mansion. But unlike before, it does not come inside to watch the blonde haired vampire hunter and her sunflower partner...

Part 4

- Bloodrust Mansion -

- May 16, 2:15 PM -

- Time before sunset: 3 hours and 45 minutes -

Sol and Otenko reached the front gate of the Bloodlust Mansion. And like the mansion itself, the front gate of it is too big. As big as a two basketball court joined together. Seeing that the front gates are big enough, Otenko nod at himself.

"Alright. Sol, this is where I will summon the Pile Dri-... Sol?" He cut out his sentence when he finally notice that the Solar Girl wasn't there beside him. Looking around the area and finally notice Sol not too far from him.

She was there near the fountain, drinking the water on it. She's not wearing her Crimson Scarf and her helmet instead, she just let it lay on the ground for a minute. Sol rises her head up fast and gasp for air, letting the excess water fall from her cheeks back to the pool of water. Noticing that Otenko was looking at her, she give out a nervous laugh while scratching the back of her head.

"Sorry, master... I can't hold myself on drinking that water after a long run..."

"Its okay. I understand." Otenko replied shortly. Sol walked closer to him, still trying to tie her Crimson Scarf from behind.

"I wonder who was the owner of that voice..." Sol started.

"It was the Count."

"Him? But I thought we purified him."

"Yes. We did but it looks like a part of him escaped out while were doing so. One small part of him is enough for him to recover."

"I see. So all we have to do is purify him again, right?" She said in a rather determined tone of voice. "I know this will not be as easy as earlier but we have to do it in order to save Mani... Master Otenko, please summon the Pile Driver here. I think this is the only place in this mansion where we can fit in the Pile Driver."

"Understood. TAIYOU!" The earth start to shake violently once again. But unlike earlier, Sol was prepared for it and she didn't panic this time. As the white light died down and the earth stops shaking, the same glowing mark appeared in the bottom of her foot.

Sol smiled in the Pile Driver before entering the front door of the mansion.

Part 5

The place is dark. Darker than a blackout. She can't see anything even her own body. There are no windows and any kind of switch to turn any source of light. Still, even deep in to the darkness, Sol continued on walking, trying to find her way out. She took every step very slowly and she's using her hands as her guide so she wont bump in any wall.

It took Sol almost 10 minutes to find the door that lead to the next room. An lucky for her, she don't bump in any wall or fall in the high stairs. She opened the door and the first thing she saw was...

"A garden?" Sol whispered to herself with a hint of confusion on her face.

Its pretty normal to find a garden in the middle of a giant mansion but a garden THIS beautiful in the middle of a giant mansion occupied by an Immortal and undead is not normal. The walls are filled with plants looking so healthy with its green color. Most of them were filled with flowers in all possible colors. Blue, red, pink, white, name it and its there.

"I never thought Count have this garden inside his lair..." She whispered again to herself. Sol continue on walking, like always, alert to any undead she may encounter. But on the same time, she was enjoying the beautiful background she walk to right now. She find it weird that the garden have one of a kind road... Like it was something spiral. She ignored it for a while and advanced to the next room which lead to a...

"Switch?" This time, it was Otenko who said that word.

The next room have 4 switch on it with the label 1 up to 4. Right in the middle of the switches, there is a wooden door that probably lead to the next room.

"I got no idea what this switches does but I think we should ignore it. We still have someone to save." Sol said. Without having a second thought, Sol entered the wooden door but something made her stop...

She's on a garden again.

"What?"

Sol looked around the garden and noticed that it was the same garden she was walking on a few seconds ago. The same arrangements of the flowers, the same color of petals in every direction and the same spiral road that she walked on.

"Wait! Sol!" Otenko break the silence between them. "The road on this garden... Does it represent a number?"

"Now come to think of it..." She wondered and start to made her way to the next room that was filled with switch. But this time, instead of focusing on the flowers and being alert for undeads, she focus more on the shape of the road. Every step she took, she was examining the shape of it of the road and memorizing it at the same time. Until she reach the front of the door, she already solved the puzzle.

"I think I get it..."

Sol quickly dashed to the room full of switch. This time, she didn't ignore the four switches in the front of the wooden door. She already guessed the puzzle of this room. The road out of the garden in the front represented a number. And based on her examination, that number represent the number eight. Since the number in those switches are only up to four, she pressed numbers four, three and one before entering the wooden door once more.

Part 6

The same wooden door she enters did not lead her to the same garden once again.

But rather to a room with floor switches with more numbers on it. The number in the tiles were arranged the same manner as a clock but without any hands on it. There are no other way out of the room except the path in the east that leads a way to a certain room.

The room on the east doesn't lead to any other part of the castle. But Sol still ran there as fast as she can because of one obvious reason. Books. The next room were filled with hundreds of books. Even if you stand to the entrance of that same room, you can notice the bookshelves holding all those books. And knowing Sol... Well, lets say that she was a big fan of books...

Once she entered the little library of the mansion, the first thing she does is grab the very first book on the bookshelf near the entrance and flipped through its pages. She doesn't really care about the title of that book, or what kind of book is it.

"Sol..." Otenko called her. "This is not really the time to read books..."

"I know. But please, just 5 minutes? You see, you can never find this book in the library back in San Miguel." It was her reply, looking at the messenger of the sun like a child begging for a father's permission to leave the house when she was grounded. Otenko only sigh at this and let out a simple

"Fine then" as a reply.

Sol, obviously, was very happy. She thanked him for letting her read the book on her hands before continuing her reading. When she flipped the next page, a small sheet of paper dropped to the ground. She took it and read it silently. But for some reason, its contents made her frown.

"What is this? The Count's schedule?" She asked herself with a very irritated tone of voice.

"Looks like it. But why did the Count put his schedule on this kind of place?"

"Wait... I think this is some sort of clue to the next room."

"You mean the tiles with numbers at it in the last room?"

"Exactly! Come on!"

And so, Sol and Otenko leaved the mini library inside the mansion with the piece of paper on her hand.

Part 7

Sol took a deep breath and stand on the middle of the tiles which was arranged like the number on the clock.

"Okay then. So let see what he will do first in the morning..."

'Woke on the seventh strike of the bell,' was written on it. She don't have any idea what on earth that means until the a bell rang. She look at the direction of the sound and see an actual clock with its hand pointing at 3:00 PM.

'So every hour that clocks rings... I got it!' She thought and quickly stepped on the number seven in the tiles. The tiles glowed in yellow color and it doesn't fade. Its like waiting for her to step on other numbers.

Looking at the paper once more, she continue to read silently.

'Had a relaxing dinner and left the house two hours later.' Was written on it. Without having a second thought, she counted up from seven before stepping on another tile with the number nine on it.

'Took an hour-long stroll to the library and read a few books.'

"Huh... So he DOES read those books!" Sol commented while walking to the next tile right beside the number nine. Like the other two, it glowed in to yellow color.

'The new day came - ate a snack an hour later.' She obviously got confused with that. At first she thought it was twelve so she stepped on the tile with number twelve on it.

And boy, she was wrong. A loud beeping sound welcomed her ears and all the glowing tiles suddenly lost its light. Annoyed, she stepped again on the numbers seven, nine and ten then instead of twelve, she stepped on the tile with number one on it.

'Played with the pigeons for two hours in the park.'

"HUH!?" was her automatic reply when she read that part. She can't really imagine the most feared vampire in the whole world playing with the pigeons. Removing that thoughts on her head, she walked to the tile with the number three on it and continue on reading.

'Returned, cleaned for two hours.' And she walk to number six.

'Broke my fast with blood for three hours,'

"That was a really long time to eat breakfast..." She said while walking to number eight. All the numbers that she stepped shine in yellow color before a staircase appeared on the middle of the room. She was confused at first, thinking that the paper still have something written to it.

'Then, at last, to coffin.'

"It was only an ending message. Ah well." Sol said but before she go down the stairs, she made sure that she returned the piece of paper back to the book she read earlier.

Part 8

The brown crow entered one of the window on the top of the mansion. It rested itself on a candle stand before a middle aged man turn at it.

His pure crimson colored eyes stared at the crow before he let out a smile wide enough to show his fangs.

"What brings you here?"

Before answering, the crow spread its wings and flew to the center of the room. It glowed in crimson red color before dropping down to the ground. It transformed. But this time, its not in the form of a wolf. Rather, in a form of a young 14 years old boy. He had a chocolate brown hair and crimson red eyes wearing a tan colored jacket, a long cape that reaches his ankles, the same headband like helmet like what Sol wears and a pair of red metal plated shoes. The bite mark on his neck and the fangs that was sticking out from his mouth is enough to tell that he was a vampire. But unlike other vampires, his skin is pale rather that bluish.

"I just want you to hear the news. And also, I'm looking after someone." Was his short reply before sitting in the stairs.

"What is it then."

"The Queen is not happy with your actions." He said before standing up. He walked around the room in a very slow pace while staring at the window. "Inviting a vampire hunter in your lair wasn't really a very smart move, Count. I'm very disappointed... I thought the Immortal who was called 'Vampire Lord' is much more smarter than I am. But I think I can surpass you in a snap."

"She's just an eleven years old girl. What else she can do?"

"She is the last Solar Child. Her actions can surprise anyone. And when we Immortals get caught by her surprising actions, she will teach us what the word 'death' simply means."

"Don't worry about that. I will teach her first before she teaches us."

"Alright. But a word of advice, Count." The young vampire said before he finally faced Count. "Let the Solar Girl free Gaia's Son and we wont help you anymore. The Queen said that to me by herself."

And with that said, the boy transformed back to a crow before he flew into the window. Count me only stare at him leaving the mansion and took a glance on the unconscious boy right beside him.

"I wont fail. I will kill Ringo's daughter. And when I do, I will take your position as the Queen's right hand."

Part 9

Sol was just behind the door where the Count was located. She can hear the scratches of conversation that he was having right now with an unknown person.

"The Queen ... ... ... your actions. ... ... a vampire hunter ... ... ... very smart move ... ... ... called 'Vampire Lord' ... ... ... surpass you... ... ..." Is what she heard from a voice of that unknown person.

"I think they are talking about me..." The Solar Girl commented while staring at the door right in the front of her.

"No one knows. But proceed with caution, Sol. May the Sun be with you."

As the conversation died down, Sol took a deep breath and opened the door. Climbing the little stairs that leads to the stage, she finally faced the Count. Count only stare at her with a wide smile on his face like Sol was just a little bug for him to squash.

"I've been waiting for you, Solar Girl Solana."

"Don't call me using that name. We're not friends. Now where's Mani?"

"So you came here for her after all. But I'm afraid that her location changes just an hour ago. But don't worry, you didn't come here for nothing. After all, there are still 'someone' you need to save." H said and move a little to the left.

Sol gasped on what she saw behind him. It was a boy. He had a dark brown hair wearing a bandana and black long sleeved shirt under a blue jacket. He was all tied up on the chair he was sitting and appears to be asleep.

"Don't bring innocent people around here, Count!" She said in anger and pointed her Gun Del Sol at him. "This is between me and the Immortals alone! If you want to kill me then do it without dragging any innocent people!"

"Calm down, Solana. He's not involved with our fight. Lets say that he was needed for other things. And while I keep him out of the way, why don't you play with my little friends here?" And with that said, a strange marks appeared on the ground.

All the marks glowed in crimson color and out of nowhere, the same giant spiders from before appeared. This time, its not only black. There are also green colored spiders. Seeing this, Sol's eyes widen. She quickly fired some Solar Shots on the spiders while dodging their claws and the spider web they are shooting. Being caught by one of that webs will be dangerous for her since that there are also green ones.

Unknowingly to her, one of the green spiders behind shoot out a green liquid on her direction instead of a web. Because she was busy on dealing with other spiders, she didn't notice it.

"ARGH!" Sol shouted in pain as the green liquid hit her from behind. Even with the sword case behind her and the leather armor that protect her body, she can still feel the heat of that strange liquid that the green spider shoot out at her. She rolled on the floor, wishing that somehow, it will lessen the pain on her back before shooting the final spider with another Solar Shot from the Gun Del Sol.

"What is this? Down to the ground already?" The Count said while laughing at her. "Anyways, how does it feel to bath in venom?"

"Oh, I'll tell ya how it feels." Was her reply before forcing herself to stand. She switched the Gun Del Sol from right to left, and finally, pull out the sword on her back.

"You're not the only one who uses sword here, kid."

The Count spread his arms. And out of nowhere, four floating swords appeared and circled him. One of the sword stopped moving and flew directly at her. She managed to dodge this by stabbing her sword to the ground and used her right hand to do the infamous cartwheel move. Before her feet landed back to the ground, she fired a Solar Shot at the Count's direction. However, he block this by using his remaining three sword as a shield.

"Darn it!" She cursed as she sat in the ground while pulling her sword back up.

'That swords was on the way! I better find a way to remove them!' She thought but during that thought, another sword charged at her. Due to her surprise, she swing her sword enough to block the incoming attack. But the next thing that happened surprise her. Instead of falling to the ground, the sword spun so fast until it hit the Count on the chest.

'I can... Do that?' She asked herself and look at her sword in disbelief. In less than a minute, that clueless face turned to a smile of confidence. 'Man, I better thank Smith again for this!'

"Why you... How could you do that to me!?"

"Sorry." Sol said as she slowly stood up from her seat. "But when I surprised an enemy, it also surprises me."

A/N: The last time I played Boktai, the number on the garden was 8 so I used 8...

So, how was it? if you're confused on what's happening, then just leave a review or PM me.

Like always, the next chapter will be uploaded next week.