Alcingeria Chapter Sixty Three: Down Below

Our heroes engage in an epic battle against the dark magic witch Alice and a legion of vampires. Can they pull it off and stop the war before it's too late?

Chapter Sixty Three Down Below:

Friday July 9^th 1690

We all stood paralyzed in fear, not knowing what to do. We had hoped to catch them by surprise, but exactly the opposite had happened. They were ready for us. Instead of getting slaughtered like the first vampire guard, they pulled back into the research facility for one final stand.

            “Alice!” Stella cried in surprise.

            “Surprised to see me?” Alice asked innocently.

No one said anything. Needless to say, we were.

            “Vampires, attack!” Alice commanded.

The vampires rushes us with inhuman speed! They stopped short because of Estaire’s silver jewelry.

            “Fireball!” Walden cried.

A fireball formed in his hands. He hurled it towards two vampires who were standing close to each other. One caught fire, and the flames jumped onto the other vampire’s clothes. They both burst into flames and became a pile of ashes in seconds. The rest of the vampires advanced backwards towards Alice.

Alice laughed quietly to herself, looking at us with her sapphire eyes.

            “You want to use magic? I’ll show you some magic!” She threatened.

She aimed her hands at us. Fear hit me like a punch in the gut. Gerald’s death came flooding back through my memory.

            “Void!” She called.

A blue/black sphere began to form in Alice’s hands. After a second or two it launched itself out of her control and it flew at us at frightening velocity. We barely had time to react, but we got clear by spreading out. The dark sphere hit the wall behind us with a loud crack!

Regaining their confidence, the vampires began to move in once again. They were force to stop short because of our silver. That’s when Alice unleashed another attack.

            “Void!” She shouted.

The same blue/black sphere launched itself out of her hands. We tried to scramble out of the way, but we couldn’t do it fast enough. It hit the ground in front of us and it sent most of us flying. Since we were still spread out from her first attack, the projectile only hit Tabatha, Macalister and Ceberus. Ceberus kept a grip on his musket, so he didn’t lose it. He got up and took aim on Alice. Alice saw what he was doing and jumped out of the way just as the bullet hit the wall directly behind where she had been.

            “You missed!” Alice taunted.

Ceberus reloaded his musket hastily. A second before he finished, a vampire lunged past the others, despite the weakening effects of the silver. It grabbed Stella. She screamed as she grabbed her crucifix necklace and touched the silver cross to the vampire’s forehead. I heard a sizzling sound as the silver burned the vampire’s skin. Stella then staked the vampire through the heart. It screamed, kicking and thrashing at Stella, but its strength quickly dwindled and it collapsed to the floor. It became dust along with the stake embedded in its heart.

            “Nice one, Stella!” Robert exclaimed.

Another vampire lunged past the others and made its way towards me! I was completely unprepared and it jumped on me, catching me off balanced and pinning me to the ground! It barred its fangs and it darted down to bite my neck. I thought I was about to be bitten…

            “Repel!” Tabatha shouted.

The vampire instantly flew off of me. My heart was thundering in fear, I thought for sure I was going to be bitten! I looked to see Tabatha standing a few feet away with her staff aimed at where the vampire had been.

            “Thanks Tabatha!” I gasped.

            “No problem, just try to stay alive.” Tabatha advised.

I turned my attention back to the vampires, prepared for another attack. I saw another one charging at me, fighting the weakening effects of the silver. I palmed my flask of holy water and threw it at the vampire. It shattered, sending holy water spraying across the vampire’s body. It screamed and collapsed, writhing in pain.

            “Walden!” I shouted.

Walden turned around and saw the vampire laying on the ground.

            “Fireball!” He shouted.

The fireball flew towards the vampire, torching it in seconds.

            “Thanks!” I called.

            “No worries pal!” Walden replied.

I saw that the others weren’t being attacked by vampires as often. They must have realized that pushing through was a bad idea. They advanced rearward once again, now under the protection of Alice.

            “You idiots, attack them! If they don’t kill you, I will!” Alice shouted.

The vampires moved forward again, but this time with less certainty and confidence. Just then, something happened that caught me by surprise, it was something that we hadn’t thought would happen.

            “I have you now!” Alice shouted.

She aimed her hands towards us, preparing to cast another spell.

            “Combustion!” She shouted.

            “She can use destruction magic too!?” Tabatha shouted in surprise.

A jolt of fear was sent through me. Alice could use destruction magic and dark magic, she was a very threatening opponent! A yellow orb formed in her hands and shot out at us. Instead of aiming directly at us, she aimed by our feet. The orb exploded on contact with the ground and it landed near Stella, Don and I. The shockwave of the explosion knocked me through the air. I landed on my back. Don and Stella landed around fifteen feet away from me. Alice casted the spell a few more times, knocking us all back and away from each other. It then donned on me what she was doing. Antoinette said it first.

            “She’s separating us!” She cried in worry.

            “The silver won’t be able to protect us all at this rate!” I added.

As if in response, a vampire rushed at me. The closest person to me who had silver was Stella, and she was too far away for the silver to give me much protection. I readied my stake, realizing that it was my only option. The vampire came at me, attempting to knock the stake out of my hand. It hit my hand with a lot of force, but I kept a firm grip on the stake. I drove the stake forward and into the vampire’s heart! The vampire turned to ash along with the stake. I looked to the others to see that most of them were fighting vampires.

            “Regroup!” I shouted.

I then moved towards Stella, who had silver. The vampires weren’t attacking her or anyone else who had some of Estaire’s silver jewelry. Once they killed their vampires, the rest of the group came hastily to join us. The remaining vampires surrounded us, held back by the silver.

            “I’ll take care of Alice, you guys focus on the vampires!” Antoinette shouted.

            “Sure thing!” I agreed.

Antoinette aimed her wand at Alice.

            “Insanity!” She cried.

Instantly, Alice looked around, a crazed look in her eye. She began shouting unintelligible nonsense.

Satisfied, I turned my attention to the vampires. I saw one trying to rush at Francella, but it was too slow and he staked it with ease. It turned to dust.

            “How many more stakes do we have?” Don asked.

            “I think that was the last one!” Tabatha cried in dismay.

I saw the vampires grin when they heard this. Just then, Alice’s screams reached a very high pitch.

            “Enough!” She screamed in rage.

I heard Antoinette gasp and stumble backwards.

            “She broke my spell!” She cried.

            “Devil’s Call!” Alice shouted while aiming her hands at Antoinette.

Antoinette was lifted off the ground with her back arched, as if being pulled upwards by her heart. She then let out a piercing scream of agony, she began flailing in the air!

            “Antoinette!” Tabatha cried as she began running towards her friend.

A vampire dashed forward, coming between Tabatha and Antoinette.

            “Fireball!” Walden shouted just before it attacked Tabatha.

The ball of fire shot from Walden’s hand and nailed the vampire in the side, its screams were silenced as it burnt to ashes.

            “Go! Go!” Ceberus shouted to Tabatha.

Tabatha ran past the aches of the vampire. Erin ran towards Antoinette so the vampires couldn’t go near her.

            “Healing gaze!” Tabatha called, aiming her staff at Antoinette.

Antoinette was bathed in a warm green glow from her friend’s staff. Her cries of pain grew quieter.

            “Oh no you don’t!” Alice exclaimed as she saw Tabatha trying to free Antoinette from her spell.

She aimed her hands at Tabatha.

            “Void!” She cried.

The blue/black orb shot out of Alice’s hands after growing considerably. It was hurtling towards Tabatha! Tabatha was healing Antoinette and looked over her shoulder, her eyes filled with fear for her life.

            “Repel!” Walden shouted with his hands aimed at the sphere.

The sphere bounced off of Walden’s spell and was sent flying towards Alice! Alice dove out of the way just as the orb hit the wall behind her and exploded. By now, Antoinette’s cries of pain had stopped and she was back on her feet.

            “Thanks, Tabatha.” Antoinette said gratefully.

            “Hey! What about me?” Walden asked as he dodged a lunging vampire.

            “Sorry, thanks to you too Walden.” Antoinette apologized.

Walden grinned and looked at the vampire that tried to attack him.

            “Fireball!” He cried.

The fireball flew from Walden’s hands and torched the vampire, burned it to ashes.

Just then, a huge explosion sounded, shaking the room and most likely the entire underground portion of Queen Yuka’s castle. The explosion knocked everyone in the room off their feet.

            “That must be the first storehouse being blown sky high!” Robert shouted as he got to his feet.

We all stood up, the vampires got up faster than us, but the silver kept them at bay. I noticed that there weren’t many vampires left. I saw Alice struggling to get to her feet. Ceberus took aim with his musket and fired a shot. Alice attempted to dive out of the way, but she couldn’t get her balance in time. The bullet hit her in the shoulder! She screamed in pain, clutching her shoulder as red blood seeped from her wound. All the vampires in the room smelled the air, they turned their backs on us and focused on Alice.

            “Oh no.” Alice whispered in absolute fear.

Ceberus reloaded his musket. The vampires began closing in on her. We waited to see what they’d do. We didn’t want to kill them and risk Alice killing us afterwards. We already made the mistake of saving her life once.

            “Don’t come any closer or I’ll kill every last one of you!” Alice warned.

The vampires stopped advancing and turned back to us. One of them jumped through the air at me, but Walden didn’t let that happen.

            “Fireball!” He cried.

He sent a fireball flying at the vampire. It was reduced to ash before it even hit the ground. Walden sent another fireball flying at the closest vampire. It tried to dodge, but it was too slow. It was burned to ashes.

Another huge explosion rang through the underground, knocking everyone off their feet once again. Ceberus took aim at Alice with his musket. She saw him and dove out of the way. The bullet shot through the air and missed her by a few centimetres. It hit the wall behind her. He reloaded.

            “I have an idea!” Tabatha shouted.

She aimed her staff at one of the few remaining vampires.

            “Repel!” She shouted.

The vampire was blown backwards towards Alice. Her sapphire eyes widened in fear as it sailed through the air towards her. Alice aimed her good hand at the vampire.

            “Penitence!” Alice cried.

The dark orb formed in her hand and grew larger by the second. It grew to be quite large and fired itself out of her hand. Her arm recoiled back and she was knocked off balance. The orb hit the vampire with a hollow smack! And the vampire went limp as it flew through the air. It landed next to Alice, dead. Walden burned the last remaining vampires to ashes with his Fireball spell.

That’s when the third explosion rang out. It knocked everyone off their feet once again. Ceberus fired a shot at Alice with his musket, but she dodged in time and he missed. He reloaded quickly.

            “So this is what it comes down to.” Alice observed, her voice filled with strain as she kept from crying out in pain.

            “We’re not going to make the mistake of leaving you alive again.” Robert said as he pulled his flintlock out, aiming it at Alice.

Just then, the door to the research facility burst open. Sixty guards filed in, all armed with swords. They were all in full metal armor. A few seconds later, Queen Yuka and Princess Estaire walked in. Queen Yuka held a machine gun.

Author's Note

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