Alex Black: The Vampiric Uprising

Chapter 4

"Where is the victim?" Alex asked the agent who was standing outside the flower shop. "Right through here, sir," he said as he motioned toward the open door of the shop. "Poor lady was only twenty-five years old," he continued to explain as he showed the group to the victim. "That's a good age, still very high concentrations of magical energy. That should make it very easy to track," Alex stated as he examined the victim lying on the floor. "Jace, Tara you will have to stay here and guard Auria and me whilst we're under. There might still be vampires in the area and us being unconscious will make us easy targets," he said hurriedly as he looked through the supplies he had brought with. "Auria, are you ready?" Alex asked with a look of concern.

"I am," was all she said. Alex proceeded to draw a big circle on the ground, along with a number of sigils, seals and runes. He then took out a piece of silver thread and handed it to Auria. "You know better how to use this than I do," he said as she took the thread from him. "We should lie down now. One hand next to hers," Auria explained. They both laid down in the circle Alex had drawn around the victim, both extending a hand towards hers with Auria's hand containing the silver thread. "Close your eyes and still your mind," Auria said before she started mumbling a Gaelic mantra.

As soon as she started, the silver thread started twirling around their wrists. First her own, then the victim's, Alex's. The loosely wrapped thread now started pulling tighter, tying them together and releasing a bright silver light. Moments later, an icy cold sensation ran over both their bodies and Auria stopped chanting. When they opened their eyes, they were still in the flower shop, but something was different. "Were here," Auria said. "We need to hurry. the astral plane is not very welcoming, especially to those who do not belong there," she continued as they both got up.

"Is it normal to feel slightly odd?" Alex asked. "Of course, you have no physical body, but you get used to it fairly quickly. But we must get moving, do you know what we're looking for?" Auria asked. "Yes, of course. We are looking for some form of a magical trace. Should be around here somewhere," Alex said as he shook himself from his daze. "Something like this perhaps?" Auria motioned to a few butterflies fluttering about the room. "Exactly that," Alex said with enthusiasm as he approached the butterflies, holding out his hand, waiting for one of the butterflies to come to him. 

He did not have to wait long before a butterfly came to rest on his index finger. For a moment he admired the butterfly's wing. They were beautiful hues of blu, purple and pink with a slight glimmer to them, edged with a colour similar to obsidian. "We need to find the person who did this, can you lead us to him?" Alex whispered. Immediately after this, the flutter of butterflies swarmed together, there was about fifteen of them, and waited by the entrance to the building. "This way," he motioned for Auria to follow him. They made their way out of the building, the butterflies slightly ahead, leading the way. 

"I think we need some eyes in the sky," Auria said before releasing a crow familiar into the air. "Why?" Alex asked quizzically. "Never know what you might encounter here, always best to have some eyes up there," Auria explained. "True. You've obviously been here before haven't you?" Alex asked as they made their way deeper into the unknown. "Of course I've been here before, how else would I know exactly where to find you when you needed me most?" she responded as if this was well known news. "Wait, you're telling me that you were keeping an eye on me?"

"Of course I've been keeping an eye on you. You still have a very far way to go." Auria said before she suddenly stopped moving, her senses on high alert. "What's wrong?" Alex asked, also alert to his surroundings. "Something is coming, Alex. Something bad. We have to get out of here, now." Auria said with urgency. "We can't, we have to find out where the lair is." Alex argued. "If we don't go back, we run the risk of being trapped here forever." Auria pleaded. Alex looked at the dwindling swarm of butterflies just ahead of them. "We still have time to find the lair. I'm not losing this chance. Go back if you want to, but I'm staying." Alex said.

"If that's the case, be prepared to fight." Auria said as she pulled a dagger from beneath her dress. "Thank you." Alex said as they started following the swarm again. "I still think this is foolish and that we should rather go back, but I'm not leaving you in here all by yourself." Auria said dismissively. "You said something is coming. What's coming?" Alex asked. "It's a dark entity that roams the astral plane. A shadow wyrm known as Caligo. He has an insatiable hunger for human souls." Auria explained with dread. "He must have sensed our presence. Alex, we might have a lot of time left to find the lair, but we don't have much time before Caligo finds us." Auria explained. "Then we'd best hurry up then." Alex said as he picked up the pace, seemingly unbothered by the danger lurking about.

They followed the butterflies for another mile or two, every now and then one would fall to the ground and shrivel up. "We're running out of time." Alex said with urgency in his voice. "Come on, I think that's the place." He said as they approached a warped building. "I hope this is the place." Auria said as her eyes darted around. "Caligo draws near, we have to find the lair and get out of here." The few butterflies that remained came to a halt just outside the entrance to the building. "This has to be it. But how do we find it in the real world? Everything seems different in here." Alex queried. "It's quite simple actually. We place a marker here that will lead us to this exact location in our plane of existence." Auria said.

"And how do we do that?" Alex asked. "Do you have something that has meaning to you on your person?" Auria asked. "I do." Alex said as he looked at his hand and hesitantly fidgeted with the black ring on his finger. "Don't worry, you'll still have it when we return. It will just serve as a beacon." Auria smiled at him. "Find somewhere to hide it, the closer to the entrance the better." She explained. Alex pulled the ring off and hid it in a crack in the stairs leading up to the entrance.

"I believe congratulations are in order." Auria stated as he turned to face her again. "What are you talking about?" He asked. "Well, the ring you were wearing wasn't there the last time I saw you and it's quite obvious that it's an engagement ring, so I'm congratulating you on the engagement." She said. "Oh, thank you." Alex said. A sudden wail nearby shook them both. "Alex we have to leave. Now!" Auria said. "Quickest way out of here?" Alex asked as his eyes searched the area around them. "We run and hope we make it" Auria said.

They took off in the direction that they came from as the ground beneath them started rumbling. "Run!" Was all Auria said before she increased her pace to  a sprint. As they ran, Alex spoke protective spells to protect himself and Auria. He looked down and noticed the ground had started cracking. "Auria! The ground!" She looked alarmed. "He's here. Just keep running, down look back." She said.

As they neared their destination, the ground in front of them suddenly burst open and a purplish-black wyrm came up from beneath the ground. They both came to a halt. "Now what?" Alex asked in a huff. "Can you buy us some time?" Auria asked as she tried to think of a solution. "Not much, but yes, I can buy us some time." Alex said. "A little bit is all I need." Auria said and Alex immediately began chanting. "Lentesco!" He aimed the spell at the wyrm and it slowed down slightly. He continued chanting and the wyrm slowed down more.

Auria started chanting her own spell, building up a mass of energy that she weaved between her fingers. "Drop it!" She yelled at Alex and he complied by dropping his spell as she sent her spell hurling towards the monstrous wyrm. As the spell made contact with its skin, it froze. "Let's go, I bought us a few seconds, a minute at most. We're almost there." Auria said. They ran to the semblance of the flower shop they used as an entryway. "Just go and lay down on your spot, close your eyes and then wake up." Auria explained. They both did as she explained and within moments they were back in the room with Jace and Tara.