edited 5/6/24
Emma's footsteps padded softly against the earth as she led the way through the caves. A light orb levitating at her palm. Tera walked next to her, illuminating the path with a flame of her own. Amalie guarded the rear, letting her own staff glow while watching Richter and Maria walk cautiously in front of them.
They had traveled the tunnel for quite some time, venturing deep into the caves in hopes of finding the lost boy. No evidence of him could be found, and the deeper they went, most of the company began to lose hope of the boy's recovery.
Not Emma, she persevered, leading the deeper underground. Light burning in her palm as it did in her heart. She knew he was down here, the receding smell of a human youngster told her enough (and Vance scented the same). She followed her nose and the winding passage down into the depths. She was determined to find the child, no matter how long it took searching the caves, no matter how many vampires may be lurking in the shadows.
It wasn't as if there was a risk of getting lost, Amalie left a trail of light with her staff as they passed through the caves. Should they need to turn back, they only had to follow the light.
The family passed through silently, ever alert for the presence of vampires. This was prime roosting territory.
Emma halted, signaling them to stop. Wingbeats stirred the still air and a bat landed on her shoulder. Vance took his bat shape to scope out ahead, using the form's echolocation to map out the caverns. It keeps going for twenty feet, then branches out into three caverns.
Thanks Vance. What about those caverns? Did you find out where they lead?
Bigger caves as far as my sonar goes, and no sign of a human child. Vance chattered, nuzzling her cheek. I think we should consider turning back. No telling how far any of those passages go and we've already spent quite a lot of time underground.
No. Emma rejected. We keep going until we find him.
Emma....Vance hissed. If there's indeed a roost here, the vampires will wake and crawl out the tunnels looking to hunt under the night, your brood does not want to get caught.
Then we get to him before the sun goes down. Emma thought undeterred.
That might not be possible.
I'm not giving up!!
Vance fluttered off at Emma's mental yell. "Em, what's he saying?" Asked her mother. Emma recounted Vance's words to the group.
"Those paths could go on for miles." Richter warned. "We could be searching for days."
"We won't." Emma said. "We'll find him."
"You can't be too sure." Said Richter.
"I'm sure in my bones." Emma responded confidently. "We will. Let's just look a little further. Maybe he's hiding further up. Who knows, we can't give up."
Emma led them onward twenty more feet into a vast chamber. She felt the air change, they were deep underground. Three openings stood before them. Vance flew around the chamber, chirping his echolocation into the caverns before wheeling low and shifting into vampire form.
"No point in splitting up to see where they go." His eyes flickered in the firelight. "That one hits a dead end." He pointed to the opening on the left. "That one loops around." He pointed to the middle. "And the one on the right keeps going, how far I cannot determine."
"Then that's the one we take." Emma nodded. "Thanks Bud, you saved us the time of figuring out where each one goes and the trouble of splitting up."
"Emma." Amalie touched her shoulder. "There's no telling how long and deep that path goes, we could search for days."
"We can't give up now!" Emma protested, gesturing the tunnel. "He could be right down the tunnel, starving and scared for his life."
"He might not." Richter spoke. "Em, we've been wandering the darkness for hours and haven't found him. He might not be here, or he might be dead."
"We have to find him." Emma rasped. " Regardless if he is dead."
"Dead or no, he went down there." Vance stood immovable, furrowing his brow. " The scent leads from that passage, and I also detect movement in that tunnel..... a stir of air."
Emma's light flickered from her excitement. "See! We're getting close! We're nearly there!"
"It could be a vampire roost." Richter warned.
"All the more reason to go." Emma nodded. "Ready to put your skills to the real test?"
"Emma."
"What?" She snapped at Richter. "What is it?"
Richter confronted her. "You've always told me to use my head, why aren't you using yours? We may be walking right into a nest. I'm a hunter, but I'm smart enough not to stir a hive without reason."
"It won't be without reason." Emma persisted. "Francis may be in their clutches."
"He'll be dead if he is." Richter glared. "These are vampires we're talking about!"
"I said I'd bring him home regardless."
"Is retrieving a drained corpse really worth risking our family's lives?" Richter demanded outraged.
"No of course not but....!Emma stood stunned, her light wavering with her frantic mind. "You don't understand...I can't give up on that boy. I can't let his mother grieve without certainty."
"Emmaline." Amalie stepped forward and took Emma's hand. "Sometimes there is no certainty. Sometimes people go missing and are never found, you have to find peace." She meant to comfort her daughter, but to Emma it felt like a personal betrayal.
"How could you say that to me?" Emma glowered. "How dare you! After what I've been through!! You know how it feels losing a loved one like that, and you're going to let that poor woman suffer the same grief!? Doesn't she deserve to know what happened to her son?"
"Of course she does!" Amalie yelled. "But it's not always possible!"
"I know that better than anyone." Emma hissed. "That's why I have to try! I have to find him whether he's dead or alive, and give his mother either the joy or peace of mind I never got." She looked over at her family, watching her silent and stunned. Only Tera knew about it, Amalie told her long ago.
"You don't have to follow me, but I need to do this." Emma's voice wavered. She turned to the cave opening and stepped through. Amalie followed beside her. "I said we'd do this together." She smiled.
"I'll go with you too." Richter joined in. Tera and Maria followed.
"Into the lion's den." Vance yawned. "Lead the way."
....
Emma knew they were nearing a vampire roost when their feet crunched against fragmented bones and torn cloth. Richter kept his whip at hand. Amalie lit her staff. They were prepared.
So were the vampires.
They had indeed roosted in the deepest parts of the caverns. Emma's argument stirred them awake, and they swarmed from their nest, springing on the family of divine bloodline. Chaos erupted in the cavern, as the group combated the seven vampires disrupted from slumber.
The dark cave flashed alight with magic and blood. Four vampires were slain by the combined effort of Emmaline and her family. Three fled deeper into the caves. "After them!" Emma bellowed with her pack following in the pursuit.
"Emma!" Amalie screamed at her daughter running ahead. Emma caught the scent of a human child on the vampire fleeing her. She sprung in a lightning flash, pouncing the vampire and pinning him with claws burning glyphs. "Where is the child?"
"Your pup, mongrel?" The vampire bared a toothy grin before shifting into mist, swirling around her and striking her unconscious. He didn't get the chance to sink his teeth into her flesh, for the rocks beneath her collapsed and she tumbled hard into a downhill passage. The Vampire Killer's lash decapitated her assailant.
"Emma!!" Richter cried, frantically searching the dark. "EMMA!!!!" He saw a strand of her hair on the shelf's receded edge and peered into the abyss. "Fuck!" He scrabbled down hoping to catch where she fell.
.....
Emma tumbled a long way down the sloping passage, further than Richter could scrabble through in such a short amount of time. Her stumbling ceased when she crashed against the wall, and lay strewn across the crystallized floor with a bloodied head and broken bones. A human would have been helplessly stranded on the cave floor, but Emma's fractures mended swiftly thanks to her combined vampire and angelic blood.
However, healing such extensive wounds drew a tremendous amount of energy from Emma's body, to the extent that when she regained consciousness, she could barely move.
Emma tasted the blood in her mouth first, then felt the sticky pain in the back of her head, the aches where her bones mended themselves, before opening her eyes to darkness. She closed them again and groaned.
Emmaline.
She shivered, her muffled brain trying to comprehend her environment. Was she unconscious? That voice wasn't Vance or her mother's.
Emmaline.
The voice cut through her consciousness. The same knife sharp tone he used when she was in trouble as a child.
Get up.
Emma groaned, lying ever still.
Get up!
Her muscles twitched, yet she was too stricken and exhausted to move.
Emmaline! You must get up!
Emma groaned in barely a whisper. "I can't...."
You can! Get up now!
She slowly ambled her limbs, struggling on her hands and feet with her claws digging into the dirt. "I can't...."
GET UP!!!
"I'm not strong enough."
GET UP!!!!!
"Stop!!" Emma cried out weakly.
You must. If you don't, you will die. The voice growled, filling her mind with rage. Get up Emmaline. On your feet! Now! His consciousness prodded her like a jabbing spear until she managed to stand up, leaning with a hand against the wall. Her head throbbed and she closed her eyes, regaining her equilibrium.
That's my girl... The voice softened.
Emma felt his presence diminish in her mind. She reached out mentally and grabbed onto him, like a hand reaching out and clasping another.
I'm here.
Stay with me until I'm out. Emma grimaced.
I will...
Once Emma oriented herself, she searched the cave for her sword. It was pitch black, and not even her sight could clear it. She lit a glowing orb in her hand, casting light. She found herself at the bottom of a round cave, the slope where she stumbled lay behind her, too steep to attempt to climb up again. (and Emma's limbs were too sore to bend much)
I must have broken my legs and a rib or two in the fall . Emma gritted her teeth from the familiar ache of bones healing themselves at an accelerated rate. My left arm too. She managed to move her right arm without resistance , summoning her sword with a flex of her hand and a quiet whistle.
Gripping the hilt felt like catching hold of a lifeline.
There you are my Dove. Now walk. Slowly.
Emma began her slow, steady trek through the cavern, her injured arm levitating a ball of light and her well right arm bearing her sword. The only sound in the dark space were her soft footfalls, heart heart beating steadily in her chest, and the puff of her breath in the still air.
I've truly gotten myself lost. She hissed to herself, realizing what an idiot she had been to madly chase that vampire like a frenzied dog.
Now I'm as good as fodder. Emma startled perceiving movement on the walls. She expanded the light, bathing the room in a pale glow. What the light revealed to her eyes took the fear and anger from her heart, and filled it with wonder.
Emma gaped, surrounded by herds of prehistoric animals racing across the walls. Sleek antelope and massive bison. Great bulls with long curved horns. Shaggy pelted rhinos.Creatures that no longer walked the earth or in this land. Emma followed the herds in awe, imagining stepping alongside the people who wandered these caves long ago, painting what they remembered so others could see their world long gone.
Birds flew above her on the ceiling, Emma stopped and looked into the painted eyes of a shaggy bison, turning to wind and gazing at her. She could almost smell its musty pelt and hear its heavy breath. Had someone millennia ago encountered one of these beasts in the same way and wanted to preserve the memory for others to experience?
As she walked further along, more animals appeared. The hunters of these ancient herds. A pride of cave lions prowled hidden in the shrubs. A great cave bear lumbered along, looking almost friendly. More lions stalked, she could almost feel their tensed up energy as they were ready to spring.
Humans made these. Emma marveled at the paintings. So long ago in a time well forgotten. She wished her parents were with her to see this, her brother and son too. It dawned on Emma her mother was around during the time these paintings were made, and the prehistoric herds roamed the earth. It was a shame, Emma thought, that Amalie wouldn't have remembered ancient times, but she would've been breathtaken by their presence as much as she currently was.
Can you see this through my eyes, Father?
I can. Alucard's voice whispered in her mind. Incredible.
Emma caught a light up ahead, not from her own source. Gripping the hilt of her sword she stalked like the lions.
"What the hell?" Emma whispered, hearing the haunting tune of a harp. Dad are you hearing this? She had lost the connection to her father's mind. Dad? Dad!! Emma puffed a sharp hiss. "Shit!"
Emma had no choice but to creep along. The harp sounded clearly and an orange light permeated the opening before here. When she stepping inside, she found herself in a small chamber surrounded by painted deer, and she wasn't alone.
A human sheltered in the deer cave, sitting by the firelight in a worn traveler's cloak strumming a small harp. He appeared middle aged, his dark hair thick on his brows and his long black beard flecked with white. His eyes are hidden by the fire's shadow.
Is this a fucking ghost? Emma crept behind a rock, whistling her sword at her side, pointing it at the alleged hermit.
The man silenced his harp and looked toward the rock. "I know you're there." He spoke in an accent reminiscent of Italian. "I hear your footsteps and feel your magic. Wise to whistle during my lute, but I am too sharp of a prey." When he stood up, Emma whistled the sword at his head.
"Don't move." Emmaline warned.
The man didn't even flinch from the woman in the shadows and her levitating sword at his face. "That's rude. Threatening a stranger at the first meeting and pointing a weapon between their eyes. You'll make more enemies than friends that way."
"Considering I found this stranger in a vampire-infested cavern, I doubt you're a friend."
"You think I'm a vampire?"
"I think you're very suspicious."
"I should say the same about you." He scoffed. "Wielding a levitating sword and hiding in the shadows. Step out, so I know who is threatening me ." Emma stepped into the firelight, whistling her sword into her hand. "Who are you?"
" Just a stranger in a cave." He answered with a smirk. "Oh don't give me that look. Why would I give you any information about myself when you're showing your teeth? How can I be sure you're not a vampire? I should warn you I'm quite experienced in taking down such creatures, and I have silver knives at my belt. I wouldn't try it."
"I'm not a vampire." Emma snarled.
" Not entirely." The Hermit nodded. "That's why I'm not afraid of you. A full vampire would've attacked and bitten out my throat the moment they saw me. Not you. You're no more a beast of the darkness than I am." He examined her, scanning her from head to toe before locking eyes with her. The hairs on her back stiffened and she instinctively bared her teeth. "Easy, I'm not going to hurt you."Assured the hermit. " I'm just curious about what a pretty face like yours is skulking in a cave for?"
"Hunting vampires." Emma answered stiffly.
"By yourself?" He cocked a brow. "That's one sure way to get eaten."
"No!" Emma snapped. "With my companions, we were ambushed and I was separated from them."
"I see." The hermit nodded. "Let me help you find your way . The caves aren't as endless as they look." He lit a torch and extinguished the campfire. "You can trust me." He offered his hand. "I promise I won't hurt you." Emma reluctantly took it, and at the moment she touched it, all the tension and weariness melted from her.
"You better keep your promise." She still warned. "You've seen my sword. I've got more than that to defend myself.
"I don't doubt it." Laughed the hermit.
Emma reluctantly followed him. More animals decorated the cave and Emma paused, she didn't know if it was a trick of the firelight or a concussion brewing, but it looked as if they were moving.
"Perhaps that's the point?" The hermit waved his torch. "The shadows cast by the torchlight give the impression of movement. Look! Some animals have multiple legs. Now if you pass by with a torch in your hand doesn't that bison look like it's galloping?"
"It does." Emma wondered, yet she kept her wits with her. "Do you spend a lot of time down here?"
"Enough where I can find my way." The man nodded. "You're closer to the surface than you think, once you reach the deepest part of the caves, there's nowhere to go but up, and up is easier to find, but harder to manage climbing."
"You're not frightened of the vampires holed up in here?"
"The vampires should be frightened of me!" The hermit laughed in an eerily familiar way. "If they knew I was down here, they'd run out their burrows like rats from a burning nest!"
"If you say so." Emma replied skeptically. "You didn't happen to see anyone else, did you? A boy who's lost."
The hermit rubbed his beard. "I did notice something skulking and scurrying about. Thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, because it looked like a boy."
"Ah thank God!" I Emma gasped in relief. "We were looking for him, my companions and I...." She felt comfortable around him to explain her presence here.
"Now he's lost, you're lost, and your friends have to search for you as well." He clicked his throat. "That's quite a predicament."
"You don't have to remind me." Emma growled. "Do you know where he went?"
"I do."
"Can you lead me to him?"
"Yes."
"And can you get me out of these caves?"
"You ask a lot, young one." The hermit peered at her with deep grey eyes. "I shall do both, in that particular order." He winked.
"Good...." Emma huffed. "But if you try anything..." She lifted her sword.
The hermit paused, his chest rose and fell. "You don't have to fear that from me. I will never hurt or betray you. Ever." He pressed his weathered palm on his heart. "I swear it."
Emma raised her sword and hackles, not from suspicion, but from the familiar scrabbling sound of a vampire honing in on his target. "Stay close to me."
Emma couldn't dispatch the vampire as swiftly. Her legs strained and she lacked the range of her arms to strike. She couldn't keep the distance between her and her foe. The vampire flash stepped towards her but luckily her sword was at her side, and with a quick step, she plunged it into his heart.
"Ouch." Emma hissed, crouching on the floor as her mended bones ached in protest. "Son of a bloody bitch. I am going to regret that later on."
"Well done young huntress." The Hermit applauded. "Those foul beasts should be running from you."
"Thanks." Emma grumbled, fighting against her aches to stand. "Why the fuck didn't you help me? Didn't you say you were an experienced vampire killer? A little assistance would have been nice."
"You didn't need my help." The hermit answered plainly. "And I am assisting you, by guiding you through the caves."
"You can't guide me through the caves if I'm dead!"
"You're not dead. Aren't you?"
"No."
"Then I'm helping."
"Fine." Emma shrugged. "You're helping, but you don't have to be such a pain about it. You're worse than Richter."
"I'm not a pain. The opposite actually." The Hermit replied proudly. "I'm the greatest help you'll ever have."
"For the current moment." Emma huffed.
"If you believe so." Smirked the Hermit
"The hell does that mean?"
"What do you think it means?"
" No damn clue." Emma hissed. "Just get us out of here."
The hermit glared and spat at the vampire's corpse. As they moved along they came across a pile of crystallized fanged skulls.
" More vampires." The hermit glared. "The humans must've hunted these unfortunate brutes and kept their skulls in the caves as a warning. Even in the ancient days humans were preyed upon by those monsters. That hasn't changed in the millennia since the paintings were created. They will always hunt us, and we will always be prey to them."
"That's not entirely true." Emma disagreed. "Not all vampires are bloodthirsty beasts. There a few that have retained their humanity."
"But those are few and far in between."The hermit shrugged kicking one of the skulls.Perhaps I am biased, and I will never see past it. "How can I, after what they took away from me?"
"What happened?" Emma asked.
The hermit sighed, gazing at the cave walls, his torchlight flickering on his solemn profile. "A vampire killed my father. He attacked our village on a hunting raid. My father confronted him while the beast drank the blood of our neighbor, but the demon lashed at him and tore his throat clean out. He died before his corpse hit the ground. I saw the whole thing. He would have gone after me but...." He clenched his throat. "He was subdued. The vampire warned me if I were ever foolish enough to confront him, like my father, I would share his fate. I was twelve, a boy on the cusp of manhood. I never forgot or forgave that monster for taking away someone so dear to me."
"I'm so sorry..." Emma sighed quietly, thinking of Richter.
"Thank you.."He clenched his knife. "From that day on, a hatred burned in my heart that would never be extinguished. I swore I would grow stronger, become smarter, and protect those in ways I couldn't protect him. I became a vampire hunter, and for many years, I cultivated my craft, saving those in honor of my father who died by their fangs."
"Did you ever find the vampire who killed him?" Emma wondered.
The hermit gave her a long stare. "We crossed paths a few times, but I could not kill him. He was too strong,and I couldn't risk my life on vengeance. I had loved ones to think about who would needlessly attempt to avenge me if something happened. I had to come to terms with it and let him go, he was an ancient vampire, and even in my strength I was no match for him."
Emma was unsure of what to say other than. "I'm so sorry."
"Thank you. Don't pity me, madam, I'm at peace with it." She could see him smile through his thick black beard. "I've more important things to prioritize. Getting you out of here is one of them."
"And finding my companions, the missing boy too..." Emma strode close to him.
....
Emma's body bruised and ached the rest of the way. She couldn't walk as quickly, and the fall had already reduced her to a sluggish pace. "I have to rest." She stopped and sat down against the wall, a pair of painted birds watching her from above.
"We'll take as long as you need." The Hermit sat beside. "You're safe."
"There are two remaining vampires lurking about, I'm not!" Emma snapped. "I'm too weak to fight one." She burrowed her throbbing head into her knees. "What have I done? Now the boy is lost, and so am I. And everyone I love is worried sick, perhaps lost within the caverns looking for me!"
"You're not lost. As long as I am with you." The hermit rubbed her back and stood up. "Come on. Chin up and feet on the ground! You won't get anywhere sitting around and moping in the dark." He offered Emma his hand. " We'll take it slowly."
A newfound hope filled Emma's heart, and she took it. "All right." The hermit helped her up. "That's a good girl." He smiled beneath his beard. "Onward we go. Just stay by me, and we'll be out."
"Okay." Emma nodded, steadying herself. "How peculiar..."
"What's peculiar?" Asked the hermit. "Because we're in a very peculiar predicament."
" What you just said, chin up and feet on the ground. My mother always said that to me when I was a girl."
The hermit smiled. "Then your mother is a wise woman indeed."