Immortal Bodies

Chapter 23--Goblins of the East Side

Author's note:

I'm pretty sure most of you right now are probably like, why is IB updated?! I thought it was over? Yeah, well, I decided to do a little add on, just to make the story more interesting, so leaving off Annaliese and Dylan were about to enter the castle. :)

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As soon as they entered the castle, Dylan knew something was wrong. By the way it looked, it seemed to be abandoned. Cobwebs draped like curtains from the high ceiling overhead, and there was something about the way the old ratted out furniture sat with spiders crawling up and over the seat that sent a shiver down his spine. From what his vampire senses told him, there were rats nearby, scurrying to capture what food was left in this ugly place. Spiral steps led up to another floor, and more above that. There were no pictures on the walls; they were as bleak and empty as the glass floor below them, which was cracked and shattered, finishing off the lethal scene.

"What happens if we run into guards or something?" Annaliese asked him, kicking away some shattered glass.

He cast her a weary glance. "Do you really think we're going to run into guards in a place like this? There'd hardly be anything left to guard!"

"Well--what about the prisoners? Wouldn't they guard them?"

"They'd be at the top level, and so would the guards be. If there are any." Dylan shrugged. "To be honest, I think the Keeper wanted us to come here, therefore he wouldn't put any--"

He was ct off by the sound of millions of glass shards crashing to the floor. Just ahead of them.

They exchanged a glance before Dylan grabbed Annaliese's arm and pulled her behind an old, ratted out sofa.

"What was that?" she whispered.

Dylan put a finger to his lips in reply, and crouched ever lower. He smelled something rotten....not demons, demons stank of venom and poison. This was more of a rank, smell, like rotten fruit....

A creaking overhead caused them both to look up.

When Dylan saw it, he cried out in surprise. "MOVE!" he shouted, as the huge glass chandelier was falling....falling....falling--

He moved out of the way in time, but Annaliese was too late. It fell over her hard, as more glass shards cascaded over her body. She gave a small gasp in surprise, but her breaths became deep and sunken.

"Annaliese!" Dylan cried as the sound of cackling laughter erupted from somewhere up high. But when he looked up, he couldn't see anything. He knelt down and began pushing glass out of the way, fingers trembling. He cut himself multiple times trying to remove all of the glass.

"Dammit!" he shouted angrily as a walnut sized piece cut his finger. His heart stung with adrenaline, ignoring the bleeding of his hands and knuckles, his only focus Annaliese. "Come on....Come on...."

Once he had removed all of the glass out of the way, he storked the side of Annaliese's face. Her light blue eyes stared at him in shock.

"Dylan...." she whispered.

"No," he said firmly. "No, you're not going to die. You hear me? You are NOT going to die." If he said it enough times, he might've believed it.

"No--Dylan--" she croaked as loud as she could, raising a trembling hand and pointing up.

Dylan rose from his position and whipped around, turning to face--

Golblins.

Forty or so of them, grayish skin and bald heads, with wide eyes larger than tennis balls. Little hairs poked through different areas of their bodies. The teeth they beared were the color of rotten bannannas and their expressions were malicious, though their bodies were small and senseless.

"Really?" Dylan whispered in reply to their fits of giggles.

One of them swung down from their hiding spots and lunged at Dylan, but, vampire senses kicking in, he was too quick for the thing. He grabbed one of the glass shards from the pile as the thing fell over him. Dylan stabbed the goblin in the head as heat filled his body and ice coated his bones. The goblin fell over, dead.

Suddenly others rushed over as well; many of them were coming from hiding spots on the ceiling, though some came out from behind sofas and other funiture. With angry shouts the bore their weapons, as Dylan thought about what to do.

But he didn't have time to think! He had to do something, and had to do something fast. So, after a rapid debate with his mind, he whipped around, picked up Annaliese, and started sprinting. He dashed to the staircase. Many fingers touched him in the proess, the goblins reaching out to their little hands trying to grasp him and Annaliese.

Two at a time he took the spiral steps. Blood poured from his hands from the glass wounds but he knew he had to ignore it in order to get away. He reached the second landing as the goblins still chased him, growling in low, gurgling sounds.

"Get him!" They called out to each other with the malice of a huntsmen taking an innocent life without feeling the least bit of remorse. There was a door up ahead, and if he could just reach it.....

His vampire speed kicked in. Dylan could run fast when it came to using his vampire senses, but could he go as fast as he'd hoped with Annaliese? Sure she slowed him down a little, but focussing only on the door and only the door, he slid through it and kicked it shut behind him. Setting Annaliese gently down on the ground, he twisted the huge lock on it. Beatings of little fists sounded through the door.

Dylan sighed, feeling satisfied. Then he ran to Annaliese, and knelt down. "Are you okay?"

It was a stupid question, he knew. Of course she wasn't okay! But it seemed like the only thing to ask after a feat like that.

She nodded, eyes flashing with fear. Her body was trembling painful sensations, but she got to her knees, picking glass out of her hair.

"If you could do it, so can I." She said it bravely, like she was trying not to be a burden on him.

"Look, you don't have to--"

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "Dylan, thank you. You saved my life! Now let's just get out of here and find Riley, okay?"

He smiled faintly. "But you're hurt."

"And so are you," she repied with a small voice.

***

How they made it through the castle without running into any more trouble, Annaliese didn't know. Her body was aching in pain, and blood stained her skin. There were so many cobwebs, hanging like draped off of old tables and tattered sofas. The castle was in crumbling condition, yet she still didn't understand how it looked so beautiful on the outside. After countless flights of more stairs, and a heartbeat loud enough to echo through the eerie castle, they came across a large iron door.

Dylan, who hadn't said anything since the goblin incident, said, "This should be it."

"How do we even know what cell she'd be in?"

"I guess we'll just have to call out her name and see who answers."

Annaliese rolled her eyes and opened the door, fefar wrapping around her body like a hungry snake.