This should be far better than last time round as I do not feel the need to obsessively watch my boxset but I am watching it again with a friend I've roped into it :3
Chapter Five – Damned If I Do Ya (Damned if I Don't)
Vlad didn't hesitate. He immediately dived into combat with a flurry of attacks, launching himself at Maja-Keht. These movements prompted Jonno and Robin to join the fray and they followed his nose-dive into action taking on the vampire guards together.
The witch who'd restored him to his former strength was an extremely proficient fighter and blocked him at every turn and pushing his abilities to the limit. Every punch Vlad threw she would find a way to dodge or defend and every time Maja-Keht seemed to have caught Vlad he found an attack to send them both into defensive.
Robin and Jonno were having little better luck, in the few glances Vlad had managed in their direction he'd realised while Jonno had his slayer training to fall back on but Robin was useless skill-wise and they were dangerously outnumbered.
Then Vlad got lucky. Bertrand had warned him how important it was to adapt to new opponents quickly and it seemed he was still assisting Vlad even after death as he saw Maja-Keht's winning attack coming. The mystic feigned a punch to the left while drawing back her right fist but when she attempted to finish the attack her knuckled slammed into Vlad's waiting fist.
With a sharp tug he pulled her to him and twisted her into a chokehold.
"Stop!" He shouted and all pandemonium stopped. A vampire whose fangs had been resting on Robin's jugular vein drew back and Jonno pressed his stake against the heart of his opponent. "We walk out or…" He gave the witch's neck a casual glance.
The vampires froze; unsure what to do while their current leader was at risk. Maja-Keht began to laugh. "You won't kill me." Her tone held no mocking, just cool certainty and she adjusted her position slightly. "Every time my death even so much as crosses your mind your soul screams in protest." Her palm found the place where his heart didn't beat and she stroked the porcelain flesh with something that resembled intimacy.
Vlad flinched and yanked her off him, holding her by the throat at arm's length, his lips tight and thin.
"I'm a vampire." He growled in explanation but Maja-Keht smiled. Her yellow eyes bored into him with a clever insight that made his senses prickle.
"Yet you still house a human soul." Her warm palm closed around his. "You will not walk out of here." Then everything changed. Suddenly the mystic was pulling the strings, Vlad was held against the wall by an unseen force stronger than his own telekinesis and Maja-Keht's palm was pressed against the wall channelling earthquake like pulses through the dungeon.
"If you do not bend to my wishes then I will tear this entire lair down on our heads." She pushed her hand against the wall with more force causing a particularly violent quake in warning. "You may survive, hell, I may even survive!" Vlad narrowed his eyes, challenging her.
"But your precious breathers would never make it out and if you do not close the deal then I will bring this! Dungeon! Down!" Had Vlad have been able he would've blanched or interlocked his fingers nervously in response but as he couldn't do either he tried to loosen her telekinetic hold on him.
"Don't bother." He felt her magic tighten on him. "You may be strong but I am more proficient in the arts of magic than any you can name."
"Now," she murmured as Vlad slumped in defeat. "Let us finish our interaction." She allowed him to drop from the floor and smiled, almost fondly. "I have healed you of your half-breed deficiencies and now you must complete what was offered in return."
"What was offered in return?" Vlad asked icily, not liking the fact he could do nothing. He could always kill her but in reality and outside of his mind he knew he couldn't. The mystic was right. Every time he thought of killing her or anyone something inside him would howl 'no!' and he was sunk.
Maja-Keht circled him predatorily. "I need you to retrieve something for me but I will not discuss it around these-" She gestured at the vampires around them. "-animals." She glanced at Robin and Jonno. "Take the humans back to the dungeons, leave them intact." Her golden eyes captured Vlad's. "Follow me Chosen One."
Vlad had little other choice than to follow her back to her chambers that she was currently housed in and accept, if a little reluctantly, the glass of wine offered. He watched the golden liquid swirl in the glass.
"I don't drink." He said.
"Nonsense!" Maja-Keht replied, seating herself opposite with a glass of her own. "You are a vampire, you cannot get drunk and it is rude to refuse hospitality."
Vlad put his drink down on the elegant coffee table between them. "I am not here to accept hospitality, I am here to collect whatever the hell it is that you want and then go home."
The mystic mimicked his movement and left her drink on the table. "As you wish." She pulled a scroll from her pocket and laid it on the table, nudging their drinks aside. "This is what I want." Vlad found himself looking at sketch of a statue which looked rather gruesome. It resembled a gargoyle accompanied with vampire-like fangs but there was a child in its arms. A young girl resting in the arms a demon, a bowl resting in her palm. "It is the statue portae inferi."
Vlad frowned. "I don't know what that means." Maja-Keht gave him a demeaning look.
"It means 'door to hell' and that is what it is." She laughed at Vlad's concerned look. "I do not intend to open the door but I do not trust the individual who currently possesses it."
"I would hide it and prevent anyone from opening it." She got to her feet and began to pace. "You will bring it back here." Her yellow eyes glowed with an intense energy. "Do you agree?"
Vlad's lips thinned and he stood to join her. "I don't think I have much choice."
"You don't," she agreed offering a hand.
Vlad shook it and a blue glow swirled round their hands. "Now off you go," She said with a smile.
"Wait wha-" Vlad didn't even finish his question before he vanishing in a blue blur.