The following occurs in December 3450.
Chapter 6
December 13th, 3450, 12:15a.m. Using my heightened agility I made my way to Long Island, New York. Acting on a tip off from Alexia Dakin, I descended upon 76th Avenue, King Street where I was supposed to locate the residence of the murderer of Heather Hume, a native of Scotland. It was never my intention to take the word of a bitch like Dakin, but there was nothing else that convinced me that Jacob Vidor wasn't responsible for the death of Hume and I was strongly convinced that he was responsible for the kidnapping of Madeline Hudson. I jumped from rooftop to rooftop in the prestigious residential area of Long Island until I finally arrived at 76th Avenue, King Street. I descended upon a large manor house that covered three blocks. It was of no surprise to me that many among the vampire race indulged themselves in such luxury. I approached the 10 foot wall of the manor and in a single bound I jumped over the wall and landed on the other side. I got up from the ground and calmly walked towards the door. I approached the two doors and kicked them open. The force of my kick made the doors swing open and immediately an alarm began blaring. At the sound of the alarm I removed The Final Dawn from its sheath and continued forward.
The manor was indeed an awesome sight. It had clearly lived through the centuries yet the entire structure remained as it probably was when it was first erected. I walked towards a hall that was to my left. Through the loud blaring of the alarm I heard heavy footsteps. The footsteps started slowly and seemed to have taken up paste every passing second. The further I walked down the hall the louder the footsteps became. As I approached the end of the hall what caught my eye stunned me. About five robots with the appearance of spiders appeared from the left and began walking in my direction. Like spiders they walked on eight mechanical legs and possessed about six irises. I froze in my tracks and positioned myself for an inevitable fight. Soon in the blink of an eye, one of the robotic spiders shot four rounds of lasers in my direction. I flipped out of the way as the lasers exploded into the wall at my right. I landed on the wall at my left and soon all of the mechanical spiders fired rapid shots at me. I jumped out of the way as the rounds slammed into the wall destroying the wall on impact. I rushed towards one of the robots and struck with my sword in swiping motion. The robot disintegrated into several pieces of steel and wires and suddenly it exploded. The moment I vanquished that robot I was struck by five rounds of laser shots. I fell flat on my back and I felt the gaping holes in my body. In five seconds the wounds began to close and my flesh became new again. I sprung to my feet and swiped my sword at two of the robots with one hand making the robots disintegrate and explode. The two remaining robots began firing rapid shots into my direction. I flipped over them and landed behind them. Their irises then turned into my direction and continued to fire laser shots at me. I threw up The Final Dawn in an attempt to absorb the laser shots with the blade. Around 50 shots were fired at me and with the strength of The Final Dawn many of the shots ricocheted of the blade. I began moving forward towards the robots absorbing all the laser shots with The Final Dawn. I was about ten feet away from them when I rushed towards them and with fast swipes I destroyed them leaving them to explode.
I continued deeper inside the manor house with The Final Dawn held upwards. My ears suddenly caught the sound of multiple heavy footsteps coming into my direction. I moved forward into the direction of the sound that came from the left of another hallway. When I entered the next hallway I was met by approximately twenty machines. These machines had red irises, bore the shape of humans and their silver endoskeletons bore the resemblance of human skeletons. On the left of their shoulders were canons and in their hands were weapons used by ancient martial arts warriors in China and Japan. About five of them spotted me; soon they formed a single column and almost simultaneously they fired rounds from their shoulder canons. I dodged just in time as about twenty rounds slammed into the wall and made a huge explosion upon contact. I rolled across the floor in the other hallway and as I got up I was engaged in combat with one robot wielding a Dadao. Its skill and reflexes with the Chinese weapon were the almost as similar to that of a human fighter. I absorbed the strikes with The Final Dawn and struck back at the man-like machine. We struck back and forth with our weapons until I landed one strike across the machine's chest dismembering its torso from its lower body. I then engaged with two other machines that jumped in front of me and struck at me almost simultaneously. One was armed with a Chinese Dao; the other was armed with a Japanese Naginata. They both struck at me with their weapons at a speed that matched mine. I blocked their strikes and struck back with the Final Dawn. They both blocked my strikes and one that wielded the Naginata flipped upwards and landed behind me. I spun around just in time to block his strikes and we both struck back and forth at each other with our weapons. With two fast strikes I beheaded the robot and dismembered it from its torso. I then spun around and engaged the last robot and at the speed of light I dismembered the robot into a dozen pieces.
After my engagement with the two robots about ten of the robots ran into the hallway where I was located and began firing their shoulder canons at me. I ran away as about fifty laser rounds leveled the hallway down. I could hear the robots running behind me as I made my way to a grand staircase. I stopped at the staircase and turned around only to be met by about eighteen robots. I held up my weapon, made my stance and stared at the robots as they made their stances. We all stood there staring at each other for what seemed like hours waiting for one fighter to make his move. I focused on the robot at my right who wielded a Japanese Nagamaki. I anticipated that he would make the first move. I then heard the firing of a shoulder canon that was headed into my direction. Immediately I jumped out of the way as the round slammed into the massive flight of stairs. I landed behind the crowd of robots and engaged a robot wielding two Chinese butterfly swords. We struck back and forth with our weapons until I landed five strikes that dismembered the robot into five pieces. I soon engaged with two robots each wielding Chinese Taijijian swords. For forty-five seconds we struck at each other back and forth with our weapons and then I engaged five other robots. One wielded a Japanese Jumonji Yari spear, the second wielded a Japanese Nodachi, the third wielded a Japanese Uchigatana, the fourth wielded a Chinese Jian sword and the fifth wielded a Chinese Goujian. One by one they struck at me with their weapons at high speed. I dodged their strikes and absorbed many other strikes with The Final Dawn. I engaged with those robots until I dismembered them one after the other. I soon engaged with two robots each wielding two Japanese Wakizashi swords. We struck back and forth with our weapons and in an instant I dismembered them both. I then engaged three robots wielding katanas. With struck back and forth with our swords until one by one I dismembered them. After my engagement with the katana wielding robots about three robots wielding Japanese ninjato swords rushed towards me. I engaged them dodging their fast strikes and absorbing the strikes with my sword. I then turned towards the now destroyed staircase and jumped towards the top left. To my surprise the three robots followed suit jumping towards the same area where I had landed. Once again we engaged in fierce combat. Each time we struck our swords sparks flew from the blades. One of the robots kept striking at me which made me move backwards into yet another hallway. After absorbing the strikes with my sword I slashed the robot two times across its chest leaving it to disintegrate into two halves. The moment the robot collapsed the second robot fired a rocket from its shoulder canon. In a split second I dodged the rocket and the round slammed into the wall down the hallway exploding on impact. The robot soon began striking at me with its katana. As we struck back and forth with our weapons I caught a glimpse of the last robot being joined by about twelve more robotic fighters landing at the top of the area where we were. Apparently reinforcements had arrived to join the fight. After a moment of fast thinking I chopped off the arm of the robot that I engaged with, spun it around and rammed my hand into the back of its shoulder where its shoulder canon was located. I pulled out the wires that were connected to the canon which caused a malfunction and the robot's shoulder canon began firing wildly around the hallway. I wrapped my right arm around the torso of the robot, held firmly on the shoulder canon and aimed at the advancing machines. One round landed into the crowd of robots destroying five. The last seven jumped out of the way and one landed behind me. I spun around along with the robot and fired the shoulder canon at the robot behind us causing the robots to explode into numerous pieces. I spotted two that were climbing on the ceiling and aimed the canon towards them. Two rounds destroyed them both and suddenly there was a robot at the left of the ceiling. The robot then lounged at us and I turned the shoulder canon making the round destroy the robot in mid-air. Three more robots then began running towards us. Focusing the shoulder canon on them they were destroyed with each round hitting them. I then ripped the canon off the shoulder of the robot that was in my clutches. Finally I jumped on the robot's shoulders and wrung its neck off causing sparks to fly. The moment I pulled its head off its shoulder the rest of the body dropped to its knees and fell on the floor face down. I dropped the robot's head on the floor and in thick smoke a katana wielding robot suddenly ran out of the smoke and rushed towards me. We soon engaged in fierce combat were the robot struck at me using several aerial strikes. I did the same with hyper speed yet they were dodged and blocked by the robot. After we struck back and forth with our swords I slashed the robot in its torso upwards and sideways living it to fall into pieces on the floor.
I continued into the hallway and found an elevator at the end of the hallway. I approached the elevator pressed the numbers to open the elevator. I entered the elevator and pressed the numbers to take me to the floor of my choice. I chose to go to the last floor. I had the impression the entrance to the manor was the last floor. I was surprised to find out that the manor had a secret floor. It takes me about twenty seconds to reach the last floor. The doors opened and revealed what appeared to be a huge bunker complex. It was not uncommon among the wealthy to use their wealth to build bunker complexes for safety during The Great Attrition and The Second Attrition. With The Final Dawn in hand I walked cautiously through the great maze that made up the bunker complex. I had my sense of hearing, smell and sight on high alert for anything I was to come across as I walked through hallway after hallway. After approximately ten minutes I arrived at what appeared to be a dead end. It was very dark and the area appeared to void. I used my ability to see in darkness to examine the area thoroughly. I then came to the conclusion that I was standing before a cave. I used my sight to examine further. My eyes were able to spot the outline of a figure that stood approximately 7ft 5 inches tall and about 8feet wide. Suddenly two giant flashing red eyes appeared in front of me. I heard mechanical humming and rumbling and I could see the figure standing up in front of me. The figure was now 9feet 4inches tall looking right down at me. At that moment it was very clear to me that the figure was in fact a giant robot. It had a wide massive chest, a long neck, a human-like head and short legs. It brought its arms in front of its chest as if readying itself for a fight. It had massive steel shoulders but surprisingly its hands were giant saws. Its legs were quite small with about two steel toes on each foot. I looked up to its massive face and saw the robot opening what appeared to be its jaw. In its jaw was what appeared to be a canon. Suddenly a laser beam fired from the canon. In an instant I jumped out of the way as the round exploded into the ground. I rolled across the floor, got up and readied myself for yet another fight. The giant robot started slowly walking towards me and at the same time it started swinging its saw-like hands towards. I kept backing away as the spinning saws swayed over my head slicing away concrete at my left and at my right. I also dodged and sidestepped the saws. The robot suddenly brought both of its hands upwards and brought the spinning saws downwards towards me. I jumped out of the way just in time as the saws made a giant hole on the spot where I stood. The robot then crouched down, opened its mouth and fired one shot from its laser canon. I rolled out of the way and the round exploded into the wall that stood behind me creating a huge cloud of dust and debris. I looked up and saw an opening between its legs. I jumped through its legs, rolled across the floor and began running to the other end of the hallway. The robot turned around and continued coming after me. I began running at hyper speed, yet, to my astonishment the robot was gaining on me despite its massive size. I looked to my right at the wall and decided evade him by scaling the walls. In a single bound I sprang towards the wall and started running sideways on the wall. As I ran across the walls I heard this huge crash. I looked over my shoulder and found the giant robot scaling the wall in hot pursuit of me. It dug its claw-like toes into the wall and its saw-like hands to scale the wall. I continued to run at high speed yet the giant robot always seemed to be on my ass. I then decided to jump towards the ground and engage the colossal machine head on. I jumped towards the ground, got up and stood in fighting position. The massive robot looked down at me and jumped from the wall and onto the ground making the whole bunker complex shake. It raised itself upwards and continued to stare at me. We both stood in our stances staring at each other in what seemed like minutes. In the blink of an eye I jumped in a single bound from the ground towards the robot's face. At breakneck sped I slashed the robot on the right side of its face. I landed behind the robot and as the robot spun around I ran towards the robot and jumped upwards with my sword making a significant gash in the middle of its massive chest. The robot opened its mouth once again and began firing rapid laser shots and me. I jumped out of the way of most of the shots and dodged many more by rolling across the floor. I began running across the walls in an effort to dodge more rapid shots. I could hear many of the laser shots exploding on impact right behind me as I ran. I suddenly stopped and crouched on the wall waiting for the robot to turn the corner. The robot soon appeared and started to scan the area trying to locate me. I then jumped on its back and ran upwards to the back of its head. I held The Final Dawn upwards ready to perform massive damage if possible. Suddenly the robot's head turned around and it was now staring right at me. It then opened its mouth revealing its laser canon. At that moment I began slashing its head at massive speed. I then jumped off the robot and watched as the robot's head fell to the ground into eight large pieces. I then waited patiently for the rest of the robot's body to follow suit. Surprisingly the robot was still functioning despite the fact that it no longer had a head. The robot's body began slashing its giant saws at me with precise accuracy as it had with its head intact. I began jumping and dodging many of the slashes and ducking many more. I jumped towards the robot again and slashed it across the chest. I landed on the wall at the right and jumped off the wall towards the robot again. I slashed the robot across its chest again and landed behind the robot. Each slash made huge gashes across the robots chest, yet the robot still stood. I then made an effort to dismantle the robot limb from limb. I ran towards the robot at hyper speed and slashed its right leg. I then ran around and slashed its left leg. Huge gashes were made on the robot's legs which suddenly made the robot immobile. I rushed towards the robot and slashed at its legs again, this time the legs became severed which brought the robot down to the ground. I had faith that the robot was by now rendered helpless. But to my surprise the robot began moving on its arms like a silver back gorilla. It began crawling in my direction trying to reach me with its spinning saws. Each time one saw brought down towards me I jumped out of its way. I then rushed towards the robot's torso holding The Final Dawn upwards. At lightning speed I passed through the middle of the robot cutting its body in half. When I made it to the end of its torso I dashed towards the robot's left arm and sliced of the saw it had for a hand. I then dashed towards the other arm and sliced of that saw as well.
I stopped behind the robot and stared at it waiting to see if it would continue to come after me. Twenty seconds may have passed when I realized that I have disabled probably the largest machine I have ever come across. As I began walking away I heard rumbling and grinding noises which stopped me in my tracks. I turned around and saw the severed saws coming towards me making leaving long trails of gashes. I began running at high speed but the saws were catching up with me at a speed that matched mine. I ran sideways on the walls hoping to evade them yet they followed me chipping away huge chunks of concrete. I then ran towards the ceiling but to my surprise the saws were catching up with me there as well. I dropped from the ceiling and landed back on the floor and the saws dropped to the floor grinding their way towards me. It was if they were shadowing my every move. I made my way pass five corners with the saws directly behind me. I made it to a sixth corner when I spun around and decided to take on the twin saws. With the saws coming towards me at high speed I stood in the middle of the hallway and held out my sword. I stood still waiting for them to grind my way. The grinding sounds grew louder and in an instant two giant blurred images of the saws sped towards me leaving a huge cloud of dust and debris trailing behind them. The two saws sped past me and in a half a second I felt a jerk as my sword passed through the saw at my left. I spun around and watched as one of the saws fell to the ground in two halves. The other saw then made a u-turn and grinded its way towards me. I walked backwards towards the wall and held my sword sideways as the saw slammed into me. I was not dismembered, for the saw's advance was halted by the blade of The Final Dawn and by the brute force which I held the sword. As each teeth of the saw struck my sword sparks began flying as I tried to hold the saw at bay. I suddenly felt myself being pushed back into the wall. The more the saw advanced the further I was pushed back. I felt my back breaking the concrete of the wall behind me. The light of the bunker complex had now disappeared. There was now total darkness as I was pushed back. Sparked continued to fly the further I was being pushed. I suddenly sensed that I was in a new room. I felt the urgency and the need to put an end to this shit once and for all. I pressed my sword against the saw with all the strength in my body. The blade of my sword was suddenly caught between two teeth on the saw. At this moment the blade stopped spinning and in an instant I effortlessly threw the blade upwards, jumped in single bound towards the flying blade and sliced it in half. The moment I landed on the ground the saw's two halves came crashing down. I rose up and looked at my sword and found no scratches or dents on the blade. Despite an obviously hard fought battle my focus to find Jacob Vidor remained.
I discovered that I was in a huge oval shaped room with giant columns. Between those columns were doorways that led outside of the oval shape room. There were about twenty columns with ten doorways between them. At my right was the monstrous hole left by me and the giant saw after our battle. There ceiling was a huge dome and coming down from that dome were about fifty windows. Just when I was ready to take the door way that was northwest of me I heard slow clapping in a distance coming form the doorway behind me. As I turned around the clapping sounds became louder and was soon followed by footsteps. Out of the darkness of the doorway came a man dressed in a grey combat uniform with a katana sword sheathed behind his back. The man was about 6feet 4inches tall with short blonde hair and a strong boyish face. The gold in his eyes was an indication that he was among the Undead. "Well done," he said. "I expected no less from the Bride of Dracula. However, the defeat of my RX 3000 is a surprise and worthy of a standing ovation."
"Who are you?" I said.
"Let me give you a hint," said the man. "February 5th, 1990. A young Scottish girl was kidnapped from the relative safety of her home. The authorities spent weeks searching for this girl and on March 22nd of that year she was found dead. The cause of death was extreme blood loss. Knowing you, I'm certain you can come up with the identity of the girl I'm referring to." I knew all to well who he was referring to. Heather Hume was the girl was kidnapped that year in 1990 and she was found dead after authorities spent a month searching for her. What this man did not mention was that before Hume's death she was rapped. "I know who you're talking about," I said. "The girl's name was Heather Hume, age five. Not only did the autopsy reveal that she died from blood but also that she was rapped before death."
"Excellent," the man said. "Was there a little bird who told you that you would find me here?"
"I had a source who told me that I would find one, Jacob Vidor, who occupies 76 Avenue, King Street, Long Island. I doubt that I am mistaken with the exact address."
"Oh no, you are not mistaken at all. In fact, I was expecting you."
"Very well. Then I'm certain you know why I'm here." I rushed up to the man with The Final Dawn over my head. In the blink of an eye the man pulled his katana from his sheath and blocked my attack. At that moment both of our swords locked together. "It ends right here, Jacob Vidor," I said.
"So soon?" said Vidor. With brute force he pushed against my sword with his which sent me sliding backwards across the floor. I stopped sliding and reinforced my stance. "I know you're hiding her," I said. "Where is she?"
"Where's who?" said Vidor.
"Two days ago a girl named Madeline Hudson was kidnapped from her home in the suburbs of Manhattan. There's a demand for $100,000 for her safe return."
"Money means nothing to me, dear Mina," said Vidor. I rushed towards him again and threw fast strikes at with my swords. He blocked all of my strikes with his sword. After my engagement I reinforced my stance yet again. "May I remind you that Madeline's parents now have forty-eight hours to deliver the money into this asshole's account?" I said.
"That's very unfortunate," said Vidor. I struck at him with my sword was again in which he absorbed the strikes with his sword. He then struck at me with his sword at rapid speed. I sidestepped and blocked many of his strikes. We both stopped our advances and stood there staring at each other. "Stop playing games, Vidor!" I said. "Where is she?"
"I don't have her," replied Vidor. The smile on Vidor's face enraged me. I rushed towards him again and threw more fast strikes at him. Vidor dodged and sidestepped many of my strikes. Made a strike aiming for is torso. Vidor jumped over me and landed right behind me. We then began striking back and forth at each other with our swords. Vidor then jumped towards the dome. He landed about twenty feet away from the dome and sat on the wall. I jumped towards him in single bound and engaged with him once again. We struck back and forth with our swords and blocked, sidestepped and jumped over each other's strikes. Our swords were suddenly locked when Vidor said "There are 27 billion humans on this planet, yet you are troubled over one little girl." We struck at each other back and forth with our swords again. We soon stopped and Vidor said "A child can make no contribution to our kind. We search for those among the human race who are at the prime of their years and are worthy to make our race endure." After those words I rushed towards Vidor and threw fast strikes at him. He blocked my strikes and threw strikes of his own at me. After blocking and dodging his strikes we both stopped positioned ourselves in our stances. "Do you really think I would spend my years on this earth acting like a common criminal?" said Vidor. "Heather Hume was a target of opportunity when I first embraced my nature. Since then I realized the potential our race hand in dominating this earth. To me there was more to the vampire than just preying on the humans. These foul beasts are the source of the earth's problems. They cannot rely on a being in sky that doesn't exist. There must be individuals in the same shape and form that can put these cattle in their place. That is why my loyalties lie in the one was the creator of our race. One in whom you are destined to meet."
"What are you talking about?" I said.
"I know that it was Alexia Dakin who sent you here. Dakin is also loyal to our leader. Our leader would go all lengths to see that his adversary pays the price of a great injustice that was done centuries ago," said Vidor.
"Enough of these fucking games!" I yelled as I rushed towards Vidor. We engaged once again striking back and forth at each other. Vidor suddenly sprang from the wall where we were and landed on the other side of the wall. I sprang towards the wall and engaged Vidor by making fast strikes against him with my sword. He then launched strikes at me with a speed that almost matched mine. Sparks began to fly as our swords clanked at high speed. We both stopped and stared at each other. "Where's the girl, Vidor?" I said.
"You're searching for her in the wrong place, Mina," Vidor replied. I rushed towards Vidor and engaged with him once more. Vidor then sprang off the wall and landed on the floor below. I did the same and from there we continued our fight. I landed fast strikes at Vidor which he blocked with the blade of his katana. My strikes made him move backwards towards a column. Once we were next to the column we struck back and forth and high speed. I made two fast strikes at Vidor which he sidestepped. The strikes sliced threw the column cutting it twice. We both moved towards another column where I blocked Vidor's strikes with my sword. He then launched a strike aiming for my head which I ducked. The strike sliced the column in half. He then made a strike aiming for my torso. I jumped out of the way as Vidor's sword cut through the column upwards. He then began striking at me with his sword as I was moving backwards blocking his strikes. My back suddenly laid against the third column. With one quick move Vidor brought down his sword into my direction. I sidestepped dodging his strike. His sword sliced through the column making a huge gash. I then swung my sword towards his head. Vidor ducked as the blade of my sword went straight through the column. We then began striking back and forth at each other with our swords and moving towards the forth column. Suddenly Vidor landed a spinning kick to my face. I felt the heel of his boot ramming into my cheek yet I felt no pain. I soon landed fast kicks at Vidor which he blocked and dodged. We both engaged with our swords once again. I landed one kick into Vidor's abdomen which sent him staggering to the column. I then performed a flying kick towards Vidor, but he rolled out of the way and I flew straight through the column as my kick took out a huge chunk of concrete in the middle. I rushed towards Vidor as he stood in the middle of the circle. I landed fast strikes at him yet he blocked all of them. He suddenly grabbed me by my right arm and flung me which sent me flying towards a fifth column. I crashed right through the column, yet I landed on my feet against the wall behind me and sprung off flying straight towards Vidor. I collided into him and we both crashed through a sixth column. We fell unto the floor and we both got up to engage each other again. We struck back and forth at each other and with one strike aiming at me, Vidor sliced through the seventh column missing his target. We both began throwing a combination of kicks and strikes at each other. I absorbed and blocked many of Vidor's kicks and blocked his strikes. Vidor blocked and sidestepped my strikes and also dodged and blocked my kicks. Vidor suddenly rammed his sword into my chest. He pulled it out hoping that I would fall. I simply stood there as my wound healed. I then slashed Vidor across his chest which made him scream in pain. I then brought down my sword toward him intending to finish this once and for all. At quick speed Vidor blocked my strike and landed one kick into my chest which sent me flying into an eighth column. I crashed through the column and landed against a ninth column. I sprung off and flew directly into Vidor. In an instant we both began crashing into the rest of the columns. Vidor took the full brunt of the concrete with every column we passed through. When we crashed into the twentieth and last column we both landed on the floor. I grabbed Vidor by his clothes and flung him into a wall. I stood there in the middle in what seemed like ten minutes. Suddenly I heard the crumbling of concrete and Vidor flew out with his sword aiming at me. I threw up my sword just in time as his blade collided into my blade. Soon we began striking at each other back and forth. We both threw kicks at each other with no blows landing. We once again struck back and forth with our swords. With one strike we brought down our swords aiming for each other's head. The moment our swords clanked the room suddenly shook like an earthquake. After approximately thirty seconds the room stopped shaking and we pushed against each other's swords staggering backwards.
We reinforced our stances and began staring at each other. As we looked fiercely into each other's eyes there was suddenly rumbling. The columns began crashing down along with chunks of the dome. Soon the side of the circle was covered in concrete. We continued to stare each other down until Vidor finally said "You fight well. Those years under Hotsumi paid off."
"Where is the girl, Vidor?" I said. Vidor suddenly rushed towards me and from there we continued our fight. At high speed Vidor struck with his katana. I ducked and dodged many of his strikes and using my sword I blocked them as well. We then struck back and forth at each other and our swords then locked. We stared at each as our swords locked. In the blink of an eye I head butted Vidor smashing his nose. As he staggered back I rushed towards him aiming my sword at his neck. Vidor threw up his sword blocking my strike and kicked me in the abdomen sending me flying to the wall. I landed against the wall, sprung off and collided into Vidor. Vidor threw me off and we both sprung to our feet. We engaged each other again throwing fast strikes. Sparks flew each time our swords clanked. Our swords were locked once more and once again we looked into each other's eyes. In Vidor eyes I saw that he already knew that he could not achieve victory. Our then unlocked and with one quick swipe I took off Vidor's right arm. His hand was still clenched on the handle of the sword and as his arm was flew in the air it disintegrated into ash and dust.
Vidor screamed in pain and dropped to his knees. He began breathing hard as I slowly walked towards him. He looked up to me trying to maintain a strong face despite being in agonizing pain. "Now, where is the girl?" I said.
"If I knew…do you think I would've told you?" said Vidor. In the blink of an eye I brought down the blade of my sword and stopped it inches away from his neck. "Where is the girl?" I said.
"Surely you don't think that by killing me you would eventually find the girl, do you?" said Vidor.
"Where is the girl?!" I shouted.
"To answer your question you must first solve this riddle," said Vidor. "There once was an evil wizard. He took three women from their homes and transformed the women into three rose bushes that looked exactly alike. He then placed them in his garden. One of the women had a husband and three children. The woman begged the wizard to let her see her family. The wizard agreed. At night he brought the woman to her house. In the morning he returned and took her back. One day the husband decided to go and rescue her. He arrived at the wizard's garden and looked hard at the three identical bushes trying to discover which one was his wife. Eventually he discovered the answer and took his wife home."
"Stop the fucking games, Vidor!"
"Just think about it, Mina. This earth is populated by three races: the humans, the droids and the vampires. Each race bears striking similarities. One of these similarities is that they would go extreme lengths to achieve their goals. Through this riddle you must think of the three races as the three identical rose bushes. Yet, bear in mind the significance of the number 3." In a fit of rage I brought down my sword and off came Vidor's head. His body then disintegrated into a pile of ash and dust. The skin on his head soon became ash and his skull bounced across the floor finally coming to a halt at the mountain of concrete. I suddenly came to regret what I have done. By killing Vidor I lost the only lead I had to Madeline. I could not, however, allow this incident to wear me down. Madeline now had twenty-four hours to live and time was running out fast.