Return to Jorgaldur Volume III: blood warrior

Enemy mansion (II)

The trail of the moving shelf was so obvious that the vampiress didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was supposed to be a secret access, but the count had been careless enough to allow marks to be left on the floor.

She wondered if she too had to find a book to move like in the game. It could be a lot of trial and error if there weren't any other clues, or a Goldmi. However, in that situation, it was easier.

The books on the shelves were covered in dust, which showed that the count hadn't been a great reader. All but one.

"It can't be that easy," she told herself, incredulous.

However, it was. The bookcase swung open. It made noise as it scraped against the floor, and revealed a set of stairs. A hound ran through them first, to make sure there were no traps. She came down after it.

It was a control room like the ones she had found in the game in some infiltration missions. Certainly, it was much simpler and dirtier than hers. Without hesitation, she took out a small artifact from the inventory, whose appearance was similar to a screen with a wire. Immediately, she hooked the cable to a terminal.

She imbued some mana, which caused the screen to light up, and display a puzzle of about a hundred pieces. In the game, she had used the mouse and keyboard, but there she had direct access to the touch screen to move and rotate the pieces.

"This's absurd. Is it really going to work?" she wondered.

She hadn't questioned it back then, since a mini-game wasn't something strange. However, in the reality, it was a bit ridiculous.

Despite this, she spent a while putting the pieces in their place. After succeeding, it worked just like in the game, thus allowing her to assume control of the mansion's mechanisms.

She didn't want to bother about how that could work. It was enough that it did. Somehow, the hacking device turned the authentication mechanism into pieces of a puzzle, which was as laughable as it was useful.

Now, she could see how some vampires tried to open the door and flee. Others were too scared and hid in their rooms. Some were knocking on the door of the count's son, anxious. Although they were no match for the hounds, she decided to go there first.

She had eliminated a few and incapacitated others. Only a few servants had escaped. She had made them meet in a room, together with the women freed from the father, from the son, and from some subordinates.

Some were crying, now that they could finally do it. Others still didn't believe it. There were even those who were unable to react. She left them there. The vampiress felt frustrated because she was unable to give them comfort, so she let them give it to each other. Gjaki didn't even know where to start, or how to talk to them. Hell was over, but that didn't change what had happened, that their lives had been destroyed, and that their future was uncertain.

Perhaps lucky for her, she had other things to do. The first one was to head to the dungeon, and check the situation there. What she didn't expect was that they were empty, except for a man in chains.

His arms and legs were open, tense, chained to the ceiling and floor, thus leaving him suspended in the middle of the cell. His back was covered with whiplash and burns, many of them scarred. Both his wrists and ankles were bleeding.

He seemed to have been there for a long time being, tortured by his enemies. That made him perhaps an ally, but she couldn't be sure. What she did know was that his level was 65, and that he was a vampire.

She was a bit puzzled. Her senses told her that his blood was similar to the count's, but she couldn't feel a link to Krovledi.

"Who're you?" she asked.

"A new game? If you want to torture me, just do it. If not, tell that bastard to stop playing tricks. I'm not going to tell you where my subordinates are. In fact, I don't even know. With the time that has passed, they've fled far away. Ha, ha. That damned traitor won't have a single coin, even if he rips my skin to shreds again," he challenged.

"It'll be difficult to tell him anything. He's dead," she reported.

"If you think you can fool me, forget it," he refused.

She entered the cell, after opening it with the keys that she had confiscated from the deceased jailer. Gjaki stepped around the vampire, and looked him square in the face, where even more wounds, his broken nose or busted lip could be seen.

His eyes stared at her, which showed that he wasn't blind. There was hatred in them, but also obstinacy, defiance. As much as they had tortured him, he hadn't given up, and he considered her an enemy. Only when she took out the count's corpse did his gaze change.

"Who're you?" he asked, stunned.

"That's what I've asked first."

He hesitated for a moment. However, he had nothing to lose.

"I'm Solodkro, the brother of that bastard. The brother he betrayed, and the one he tortured every day," the vampire replied.

"He was Krovledi's subordinate, you aren't. What happened?" she kept asking.

"That bitch wanted us to follow her. I refused, but my brother gladly agreed. Of course, I didn't know until he stabbed me in the back. We were free vampires, children of vampires, not slaves or slavers. However, he wanted to be both. Luckily, my people managed to flee. I'd set it up in case she attacked us, but it worked on my brother betrayal too. He was still looking for the treasure."

"I guess that's enough. Can you regenerate?"

"Of course, if I had blood..."

She undid the chains, the one around his feet first. He was barely able not to fall, to sit on the ground not too sharply. Solodkro looked with curiosity and astonishment at the vampiress, because he could perceive that her lineage was much more powerful than his.

She handed him a level 65 vial, which he stared strangely. It looked like blood, but that container was strange.

"Drink it. It's blood from I don't know what beast. If I wanted to give you poison, I wouldn't have untied you."

Not very confidently, he opened it. After smelling it, he couldn't resist but drinking it immediately. The vampire had gone a long time without taking more than a few drops, as they wanted him not to die. Every instinct in him urged him to drink.

As he did so, his wounds began to heal. At the same time, he was regaining his strength, as if it was magic. In this case, it was blood magic.

Gjaki still gave him a couple more vials, so that he could drink them later, since the regeneration wasn't immediate. In a few hours, he would be fully fit again.