Chapter 9: Anything but that

Holy crypt of the Bloodspiral, somewhere in Russia

Zhalia opened her eyes. It took her a few seconds to remember what happened.
Zane. He had betrayed her. Waves of anger gushed trough her body.
How could he? It trusted him!
She realized she was tied up to a statue or something. She couldn't move or free herself.
Dammed this was not good…
She started to examine the room she was in. It was a big and very high hall, enlightened by soft candlelight. It looked an old underground tomb or catacomb or something, because there were several Sarcophagi.
She shivered. Not only because of the cold.
On her left was some kind of altar, with a big statue of some god. On her right was a big gateway, and in front of her another, smaller gateway, sheltered with a dark red curtain.
Suddenly she heard voices. People in long black attires entered the hall trough the gateway on her right.

Dante's house, Venice, a few hours earlier

Sophie stepped into Dante's living room, holding a plate with three cups of tea.
She looked at the worried faces of her friends. She probably looked exactly the same.
Nobody really seemed to know what to do, it was like they couldn't think clearly anymore without Zhalia around. At least, that was how Sophie felt. Zhalia was like a sister to her, a sister she hated sometimes, but loved even more.

She sat down and put the plate on the table.
"There. I hope this will help us think."

Lock suddenly came alive.
"You know what I don't understand? Why do they want Zhalia? And why is Zane working for the Bloodspiral? Are they blackmailing him or something?"

"Why do you always think the best of people Lock? Maybe he's just an asshole who thinks the Bloodspiral's got some great ideas." Sophie said irritated.

"Stop arguing! I don't care why Zane works for the Bloodspiral, I just want to know how to find them!" Dante said angry.

Sophie and lock maintained in silence.

Suddenly they heard the sound of a trembling mobile .

"That's mine.." Dante said and he looked on his phone.
"It's a text message from an unknown sender."

"What does it sais?" lock asked.

"This are coordinates."

They all looked at each other and thought exactly the same thing. Was it the location of Zhalia?

"Wait a minute, this might be a trap." Sophie said.

"Well, it's the only clue we've got." Dante said.
"Let's go, and quick."

Somewhere in Moscow, Russia

Dante, Sophie, Lock and Cherit walked through the streets of Moscow. It was an old part of the city, and very expired. After a few minutes they reached an old cemetery. The big, iron gate should be sealed with a padlock, but it was broken.

"Well, this is our destination." Dante said.

Sophie moaned.
"Please tell me you're joking."
She looked nervously at the creepy graveyard.

"Don't worry Soph, I'll protect you." Lock said forceful.

Sophie giggled.
"We'll see who must protect who."

"Come on guys, this isn't the time..Let's go." Dante said a bit irritated.
He had a bit of a short fuse since Zhalia was gone, so Sophie and Lock quickly followed him into the darkness of the cemetery.
Carefully they walked over the narrow gravel path, pass the expired graves.
Suddenly they saw a small chapel. The door was open.
Dante went first, with Sophie and Lock on his heels.
Once their eyes got used to the intense darkness of the chapel, they saw the contours of a stairway. Without saying a word they went downstairs.
The stairway came out at a dark- red curtain. There was a little opening where they could look through.
"Zhalia." Dante whispered.
She was tied up to a statue, but seemed to be okay.
He wanted to go to her, but Sophie stopped him.
"Wait, there are people coming in." She whispered.

Four people wearing long black attires came in.
After them came Wind, Shauna, a guy wearing a fancy white suit, Zane and last but not least; Rassinov. He was holding the sword.

Zane looked at Zhalia and forced a little smile but she demonstratively looked the other way.

"Don't be mad at your brother dear Zhalia. He was only doing what I ordered him to do, he was doing his duty." Rassinov said.

"What do you want from me? You got the sword, what do you need me for?"

Rassinov smiled.
"I thought you were smart. Isn't that obvious?"

Shauna chuckled.
"Good one dear brother."

Zhalia looked at them with a blend of confusion and fear.
Suddenly her eyes became big.
No. Please, anything but that.
"You are Zane's uncle.." She whispered with tears in her eyes.

"And that makes you the last descendant of the Bloodspiral. Welcome in the family!" Rassinov said full of malicious delight.

Behind the curtain Lock almost screamed it out of surprise.
Sophie quickly put her hand on his mouth.
She saw her own horror reflected in the eyes of her friends.
This couldn't be true…

Sophie looked at Zhalia and had probably never seen someone look so stunned as she looked now.
Shocked, almost frozen. She didn't believed it, couldn't believe it, or didn't wanted to believe it. Maybe all three at the same time. Sophie didn't knew.
But it was true though. Weird and unexpected as it was.

Dante struggled with himself. He wanted to go to Zhalia, hold her, comfort her. Tell her it didn't mattered for him. And neither to Sophie and lock. He was sure of that.
But they wouldn't stand a chance against such an force majeure. Te Bloodspiral was just with too many.
Dante forced himself to wait 'till the right moment.

In the mean time Zhalia also tried to process this horrible discovery.
Rassinov said something, but it didn't got trough her.
She felt dirty, every fiber of her body, every drop of blood in her vessel felt… evil.
"My dear niece, can you hear me?"
It was Rassinov.
She awaked from her state of chock and looked up at him.
"Who was it?" She asked.

"Who was what?"

"Which one of my parents was related to you?"

"You say it like it's a bad thing." He smiled. "Aren't you happy with your new family?"

"Just answer the question!"

"Very well. Your mother was my sister. She was a loyal member of the Bloodspiral. Your father was very dedicated to our affair to. So why don't you follow their footsteps, and joins us. Just like Zane. It's your…. Destiny."

-
This wasn't much of an action- chapter, but next chap there will be more action, I promiss! ^^
Also some major questions are going to be answered;
Will Zhalia join the Bloodspiral?
And will Rassinov get the legendary titan of the night?
Or will the Huntik team cross his evil plans?

You'll find out next chap… ^^

ps: Let me know what you thought of this chapter =)