Chapter 8: Mission in the Night
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Father Marcus was confused. And it wasn't the many corridors and rooms that had exactly the same carvings that did him so. It was mainly the atmosphere around this place they were supposedly held captive. Marcus woke up to darkness that surrounded everything in his room but the table which held a candle lighting his meal.
Before he gave to the drowsiness which settled in after all the events took place the Night before, he saw that Luka and Mirna's wounds were well treated in the room next to his. He didn't see Lina or any other vampires again, presumably because of the rising sun he saw through the thick black curtains. Only human healers were in the room treating the two Hunter's gash and bruise. The human girl named Cathy left after the healers arrived and she was reassured that she was no longer needed. With that, he was shown to the room he now occupied and without knowing it, he was able to fall asleep, dreaming of black clouds.
Marcus now made his way towards their room, which was literally two steps away. He looked around the hallway before entering and saw that the rooms were a couple of inches away from each other, each door having the same exact designs on them. He wondered briefly how these humans navigate themselves around the big castle.
When he entered the room, he saw his two companions still sleeping soundly. The human named Cathy was cleaning up what the healers seemed to leave behind, used and bloody bandages, etc.
"Good...evening," Marcus called out to her as she did not seem to notice him enter the room.
She looked up at him and gave a friendly smile. "Good evening, Father. Your companions seem to be doing fine, although, I do not suggest moving them around for a couple of evenings."
Marcus nodded. "I see. Thank you for taking care of them."
She nodded with the same smile as she went to clear out dirty dishes on a table that looked exactly like the one in his room.
"I'm sorry that Master Joseph was so rough on them last evening, Father," she said. "He must have been in a bad mood."
"Joseph..." Marcus repeated. "...is the vampire's name?"
Cathy nodded. "Yes...and my master."
Marcus raised an eyebrow. "Master? Does every human have masters in this place?"
"Oh no," Cathy replied. "That's impossible. There are so many humans here. It's mainly whichever vampire wants or needs one."
"I...see," the priest said.
"By the way," Cathy said before she exited the room. "Feel free to walk around, Father. But don't enter any room with any vampires."
She gave a small laugh. "With your blood, every vampire would love to have it. But if you're looking for Miss Lina, go all the way down the hallway and you'll know you've arrived." She exited the room with a tray full of dirty bandages and dishes.
Marcus sighed and sat on the chair by the head of the bed Luka was laying on. They looked pale, probably because of the blood loss but being Hunters, their bodies were probably used to it.
Luka groaned slightly as an eye slowly opened. "So was this...exactly how you planned it to happen, Father?"
"Of course not, Luka," the priest said guiltily. "It's just you two put up more of a fight before I could stop you."
Luka gave a small laugh to which he winced slightly afterwards. "Yeah, that was one hell of a fight I've had in a long time."
A grunt came from Mirna's bed. "You can say that again."
Her head turned slightly towards Marcus. "Why don't you go and find out what we're beaten up to be here for, Father, and let's get the hell outta here." She winced as she turned her head back to the same position. "This place kinda creeps me out."
"Yeah," Marcus replied. "I'll be seeing you two later."
"Alright," the two Hunters replied simultaneously.
The priest exited the room and went 'all the way down the hallway' like he was told. But with the sidestepping and the dodging of the crowd that had grown in an instant, he was having a major trouble going all the way down the hallway.
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"Hold on one minute," Lina said and waved a hand. "Dunpeal?"
Since the beginning of the new evening, she had been informed that Lilith and Robert had returned from wherever they went. She was literally dragged out of her bed by Mel and into the main chamber where the four elder vampires stood waiting for her. Lilith and Robert were wearing black robes, presumably from the Night before, and stood next to Brandus and Cecil.
Lilith nodded. "A half-human, half-vampire Hunter. So far there has been only a record of one."
"And...this Dunpeal is supposed to be a very strong Hunter?" Lina asked.
To this question, Cecil nodded. "He is said to have derived from Dracula, brother to our dark Lord, Alucard. It's been said that this very Dunpeal was the one who sealed Dracula away a long time ago. That is why our Lord is the only one watching over MidNighte."
"Cecil, we're not trying to teach her our whole history just yet," Brandus said boredly.
"Okay...and he's targeting Turquoise now?" Lina continued to ask. "As a whole? Or...anybody in particular, perhaps the master of the domain?" With this she glanced at Brandus.
Brandus caught her look and gave her a chuckle. "My, aren't you the sharp dagger in the box?"
Lina shrugged modestly. "It only makes sense if this Dunpeal or whatever were to think that taking down the main boss will stop the Others here in Turquoise too."
"The only thing is," Robert said. "We're pretty sure the Dunpeal isn't working on his own."
Lina raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Officially, the Dunpeal does not attack on his own for no apparent reason," Cecil replied. "He is hired to do as ordered."
"By Lycans?" Lina said curiously.
Lilith nodded. "We assume. Since there has been no sign of unneccessary slaughter of the vampires in Turquoise and there has been heavy traces of the Dunpeal outside. If he were ordered to kill off every vampire in sight, he would have done so by now. The Lycans probably does not know that taking down the apparent 'master' of Turquoise affects MidNighte very little rather than destroying Turquoise as a whole."
Lina mulled the information over. "So you just want me to gather information on the Dunpeal's traces?"
Lilith nodded again. "See what you can find from the vampires that went outside of Turquoise last night. There couldn't be so many. The human of yours should be able to tell you something."
Lina nodded as she turned to make her way towards the door.
Once the door clicked itself closed, Lilith gave the gesture of sighing. "There's so many things happening. Damn you and your city, Brandus."
Brandus laughed. "It isn't so bad, is it? You two did 'grew up' here."
"So we didn't have time to tell her about the entertainment again," Cecil said, smiling.
"That's sort of our last concern right now," Robert commented.
Brandus sobered and looked at Lilith and Robert. "You are certain of what you told us?"
Lilith nodded. "No doubt about it. The Dunpeal is looking to get into Turquoise."
"If he didn't already find a way," Robert said, grunting.
Brandus brushed his hair back casually. "Well, let's hope she comes through with something."
The other three nodded in agreement as they lingered their eyes on the door Lina had just exited.
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Lina came out of the chamber room to see Mel still standing outside the door waiting for her. He looked up with a bright smile as he saw her.
"I thought I told you not to wait for me?" Lina said with a frown.
"Well...I didn't know what else to do," Mel replied. "Cathy was busy in the kitchen."
"Whatever," Lina said and started down the hallway. "Well, come on, I've got a mission to run."
Mel raised his eyebrow. "What mission, Miss Lina?"
Lina shook her head slightly. "Nevermind. Do you know where that Joseph is?"
Mel looked up in thought. "Um...Cathy would know, I think."
"Well, let's go find her first," Lina said.
Mel nodded and walked a few steps up to take the lead because he knew Lina didn't know the way to the kitchen.
"So how are the two Hunters that came in last evening?" Lina asked.
"Hmm...from what Cathy said, they're okay, they weren't in a life threatening situation to begin with, she said," Mel replied, dodging a human plowing his way somewhere.
"I beg to differ," Lina said as she herself sidestepped a vampire plowing her way face on. "That Joseph seemed to be eternally in a bad mood or something."
"Well, he wasn't always like that," Mel said. "He used to be kinder to me and Cathy before he took her as his human."
"Sounds impossible from my point of view, but I'll take your word for it. What about that snouty Camille?" Lina asked. "You can't argue with me there that SHE isn't always in a bad mood."
"Well, she's a different story," Mel said. "She seems to be extremely attached to Master Brandus for some reason and when she heard that he took in a human, she somewhat flipped." He giggled childishly.
Lina raised an eyebrow at the giggle and shove a laugh down her throat. She didn't want to lead him on that talking about others behind their backs was a good thing, although it was mighty entertaining.
"Wait a minute," Lina said all of a sudden. "That Brandus has a human too?"
Mel nodded. "Yes, he took her as his own about three years ago from what I heard. Her name is Regina. Well, at least that's what we all call her. She's weird, though."
Lina lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Well, the way she laughs, for instance," he said. "'Creeps any Creature out from a mile way' is what Cathy always says. She doesn't know who she really is either, she suffers from amnesia. Cathy told me Master Brandus found her in the forest."
Lina felt a chill down her Undead body for some reason. "I-I see...f-for some reason, I don't wanna meet her..."
"Huh? Why not, Miss Lina?" Mel said, looking at her.
"Haha...no reason," Lina said with a sweatdrop smile on her face.
Lina blinked as she saw a crowd in the middle of the hallway. "What's happening here?"
Mel stopped to scan the crowd then he hid behind Lina's back. "They're all vampires, Miss Lina."
Lina grunted. "And they're all females." Lina put her hands on her hips. "HEY!" She shouted which echoed in the hallway. Everything seemed to stop as the vampires turned to look at her.
She crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't feel any threat from all these nobodies. They all didn't seem to feel older than fifty years old. The more powerful is more dominant, she thought.
"What are you all doing?" She asked with a friendly smile.
On the other hand, the other vampires held a stone-cold face as they backed away from the object of their 'affection.'
In this case, it was the priest that was panting and holding his robes together. His face was pale and his hair was all in disarray as he stood up and ran over to Lina.
Lina nodded in understanding. No vampire can resist a priest's pure blood. Very sinless, very tasty.
Lina gave them all a wink. "Hey, he's a priest, let's keep him pure, huh?"
Some young looking vampire pouted. One said, "But we only wanted a taste..."
A very seductive looking one nodded and brushed her blonde hair back. "Yes, we couldn't resist his scent."
Several other heads bobbed up and down. Marcus seemed to pale even whiter.
Lina gave a small laugh and said, "Yes, but if you do anything to him, you'll have to answer to his two guardians."
A snort came from the group. "They couldn't even beat Joseph."
"Yes, they couldn't beat Joseph doesn't mean they won't be able to beat any of you weaklings," Lina said, getting a tad bit aggravated.
"Be good little vampires and shoo along now."
A few actually left. The majority that stayed frowned. "How dare you?! Who do you think you are acting all superior?!"
Lina frowned in turn and clenched her hands. "Hey! Don't piss me off, the lot of you! Cuz you all KNOW what I'll do to you."
A few more backed down. The said lot was even more fueled.
"Don't be so arrogant, bitch!" one said.
"You're not the only powerful one in Turquoise!" another said.
Lina narrowed her slitted eyes as she raised her hands to summon her magic.
Mel pushed Marcus out to the side line quickly as the quarrel seemed to worsen.
"Oh yeah!? You all asked for this!!" a ball of fire formed in her hands. "FIREBALL!" Lina whipped the fireball at the group, which dissipated the moment they saw the fireball hurtled at them.
A couple emerged from her shadows to which she jumped away to see a short knife hurtling towards her. She caught it and hurtle it back. It must've hit one of them as she heard a scream as one of them melted into the shadows.
She saw two rushing towards her and she stopped in her track.
"FLARE ARROW!" The flame arrows made their way towards its target and caught them. Both of them were aflamed as they melted into the shadows, screaming.
Another short knife came flying from the shadows and hit Lina's arm. She winced and landed in front of Mel and Marcus. She saw several knives hurtling towards them.
"VALIS WALL!" she pulled up a wall which stopped all the knives right in front of their faces.
"I'll tell you one thing about my magic!" Lina shouted out. "You will never be able to penetrate through my defense and I can always do this!" She pulled the knife from her arm and threw it towards the vampire. It glowed green before hitting its target. The vampire screamed and took refuge in the shadows like all the others.
Lina snorted as she brung the magical defense down. "Newbies. Messing with the wrong person!"
The priest took her arm and looked at her wound, which started to close immediately, leaving only traces of blood on her sleeve. Lina took her arm back and said, "Not a big deal. Now that I've blown off some steam, let's go looking for Cathy now!" She smiled widely and started walking.
"Umm...Miss Lina," Mel called out. "You're going the wrong way."
Lina halted and turned back almost mechanically. "Gosh, there's only two ways to go, why do I always go the wrong way?" She scratched her head as Mel took the lead once again, wondering if being Undead chipped away a little of her brain away.
Marcus snickered quietly to himself as he followed Mel.
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A tall human woman, with long raven hair, walked lazily around the hallway as she came across about four vampires, dragging their injured selves somewhere.
"What happened to all of you?" she asked out of curiousity.
"That damn bitch!" a charcoiled one snarled.
The woman raised an eyebrow. "Which one?"
"The new one!" another growled, trying to tug free a short knife from her shoulders, shaving her Undead heart, to no avail. "How the hell did a newborn like that get so powerful! I swear I'll get her back ten fold!"
"The new one? The one that Master Brandus brought the other evening?" the human said.
"Yes, Regina! Her name's Lina or something! Now let us be! We're in a foul mood!" they shouted as they continued to make there way to wherever they were heading.
Regina blinked dazedly. "Lina..." She repeated. She walked down the hallway from where the injured vampires came from.
"Lina...Lina...Lina..." she kept repeating to herself.
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Another weird chill ran down Lina's spine as Mel found Cathy in the bustling kitchen. She shrugged it off and tried to ignore the good smell in the kitchen.
They were cooking food for the humans and if Lina were still alive, she would have salivated a gallon already. But as she was, she didn't think she could break a sweat even if she ran a hundred miles. She went into a short despair as she thought of all the yummy food she was going to miss.
Cathy of preparing two bowls of soup for Luka and Mirna as she answered their question.
"Oh, Master Joseph?" she said. "He's probably at the Fountain in the garden behind the castle. He's always at the Fountain by now."
"Are you okay?" Marcus asked as Lina looked dazedly around the kitchen.
Lina hung her head. "Yeah. I'm just looking at all the food I'm missing out on. It smells so GOOD!"
Cathy giggled. "Of course it's good, Miss Lina! The head chef is the best!"
If Lina could cry, she would have. "Good and free, all you can eat food! It's like heaven here for me if I were human!"
She turned towards the exit and said, "Let's get outta here before I'm more depressed."
The two humans of Turquoise laughed. "She's so funny."
The priest's mouth quirked up into a smile. "She IS different from the others."
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Upon having a good laugh on Lina's expense, Mel lead them to the garden behind the Turquoise castle. If it were in daylight, the garden would have been green and beautiful. Perhaps similiar to the day her friends buried her body, but Lina wouldn't have a clue to that.
Mel pointed towards a closed flower bud. He glanced at Lina and said, "That's the Moon Terra. It blooms once every Blue Moon. Actually, Mistress Lilith was the one who planted and tended to it maybe a hundred years ago."
"Hmm...I see," Lina said.
"Now if we walk around this and over here, we'll arrive at the Fountain..." Mel explained and walked around the big patch of Moon Terra.
Walking by the Moon Terra, Lina saw a small tombstone resting beyond a green bush. One pure, white flower budded alone in front of the stone.
"Master Joseph is right there, Miss Lina," Mel's voice called out in front of her, pointing towards a huge, white marbled fountain with an angel carved in the middle of the cold water pond. There Lina saw Joseph looking at the night sky.
Lina made a gesture of sighing and said, "Okay, Mel, this won't take long. Can you two just wait for me here?"
Mel and Marcus nodded as Lina made her way towards the Fountain.
"What do you want?" he asked without looking at her.
Lina stopped a few paces away. "I just need to ask some questions."
He grunted but didn't say anything else.
Lina cleared her throat and said, "You were one of the last ones to have come back from visiting the outside, right?"
He shrugged and turned his red eyes to look at her. "I wouldn't know."
Lina already felt exasperrated. She should've came up with a better approach. "Okay, I'm assuming so since the last commotion was caused by you bringing those three here."
Joseph didn't say anything and turned his eyes to watch the sky once again.
"When you were outside, did you sense or see any other Hunter tracks?" Lina asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.
To this Joseph turned back to look at her and quirked an eyebrow. "I wasn't paying attention to any other Hunters besides the two I was fighting. Why do you ask?"
Lina scratched the back of her head and said, "Well, it's not like Brandus told me to keep it quiet." She sat down beside Joseph. "They think there's a Dunpeal trying to get in here."
Joseph's eyes widened slightly. "What?"
Lina nodded. "And I'm supposed to find some information from anyone who's been outside recently."
"A Dunpeal..." Joseph said faintly. "Well, I can't say I saw any traces of it but then again, I wasn't trying to look..."
"Right...well, I was expecting as much," Lina said and stood up. "Thanks anyway."
As she turned around to walk back to the two waiting for her by the patch of flower work, Joseph's voice called out, "Camille should have been outside as well. She usually stays out as late as possible. You should question her as well."
Lina turned her head and made a face. "Anybody but her..."
Joseph smirked. "I wish you luck."
Lina hung her head. "Yeah, I'll need it."
She made her way back to the other two waiting idly around.
"Did you find out anything, Miss Lina?" Mel asked.
Lina shook her head. "Nothing useful."
"So what now?" Marcus asked as they made their way out of the garden.
Lina sighed deeply. "Now? Now, we walk into the black widow's web."
"What?" the two humans said simultaneously.
Lina chuckled as she made her way out of the garden. "Well, she's not as dangerous as the black widow...just really annoying, I guess."
"Huh?" the two humans looked at each other and shrugged.
Lina made no indication of explaining anything further. At least, not yet. The three walked purposefully back into the old mansion, unaware of the dark shadow that seemed to cling to the large tree a few feet away from the doorway.
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Notes: All I'm gonna say is SORRY! Forgive me:P