by Diana Winchester 6th September 2020, 12:34 am
-On the third sublevel, outside the dungeon-
Diana stepped down the stairs to find herself staring down a long hallway devoid of anything but torches in wall sconces, metal doors on both sides of the hallway, some bodies of vampires lying in various states of disassembly, and a quartet of werewolves who had been waiting on the huntress to arrive. They snarled and growled at her before charging at great speed. Diana had just loaded Ultraviolet Rounds in Saint Sinner Valentine and did not have enough time to switch to Silver Bullets before they would be upon her, so instead she channeled pale blue energy into her hands and slammed them palms-first onto the stone floor, sending out an expanding dome of death energy that caught the charging werewolves and sent them sprawling to the floor, where they writhed in pain for several seconds before expiring.
Now that they had been dealt with Diana moved forward towards the end of the hall and saw a small group of humanoid shapes five strong emerge from the large metal door at the end of the hall. Diana deduced that they were vampires who had been sent to stop her. She scanned them with Guardian's Sight and confirmed that the humanoid shapes were vampires. They approached her as a group and paused about ten meters away. Diana addressed them in a calm voice.
"I am here with an offer from Reginal-" Diana started before she was cut off by a strong male voice that came from an older male vampire who was missing his necklace. The huntress was momentarily thrown off by that. Reginald had not mentioned any older vampires joining the dissidents. Either he did not know that they had or he did not mention them because they were dead to him.
"Save it, stranger. We're not interested in any offer Reginald has for us. The time for negotiating has passed!" The voice stated in no uncertain terms. Diana recalled the instructions given to her by the head butler. She was to make the offer once and if it was rejected she had authorization to kill any who refused on the spot. Since they had refused to hear the offer, the huntress prepared to follow her instructions.
"Very well then. Know that refusal means that I am obligated to kill you." Diana warned the quintet, offering one last chance for them to stand down and hear the offer. She was met with derisive laughter for her trouble. There would be no bargaining, only fighting.
"Don't be so presumptuous just because you killed some of those werewolf mongrels, stranger! You can't win against us!" The leader admonished her before all five vampires rushed at her in unison. Diana raised her assault rifle and aimed at the first one she saw, firing five shots at him and hitting him in the torso with each one. He pitched to the floor, screamed, and clutched his chest as the smell of burning flesh reached Diana's nose, but she did not have time to watch his demise because the other four vampires were still active.
Diana turned to a second vampire who was only two meters away from her and fired at his head, missing with the first four rounds but scoring a lucky headshot between the eyes that killed him instantly and caused him to crumple to the floor. The remaining three were too fast to shoot and closed with the huntress before she could even aim at them. One of them seized Saint Sinner Valentine by the barrel and wrenched the weapon out of her hands.
Unwilling to risk her wrists being broken in the struggle, Diana released her assault rifle and watched it be flung to the far left and clatter against the wall, leaving Diana unarmed against a trio of vampires who saw an easy meal standing in front of them... or so they thought. Diana wordlessly channeled pale blue magic into her hands, dropped to her knees, and slammed her hands palms-down onto the floor. The pale blue dome caught two of the vampires by surprise and they screamed in agony, but the leader of the quintet had fled the expanding Spirit Dome in time and escaped unharmed.
Diana clenched her teeth as the lead vampire turned back and faced her. He had a look of shock on his face like he had never expected a human to have any prayer of killing a vampire, let alone four of them. He then clenched his teeth.
"I don't believe this! Four of my friends who I've known for centuries killed by a single woman! I don't know how you did it, but I'll make you pay!" He exclaimed. He turned to her and then towards the door that led to the dungeon proper. Diana could not risk him escaping and executing any captives, so she wordlessly raised the index and middle fingers of her right hand, turned them sideways, and channeled pale blue magic into them before firing a Spirit Drain Beam that hit him in the chest as he turned back towards her, causing him to fall to the floor as he quickly began to wither and die from the death-dealing power of the beam.
The lead vampire fell onto the floor with an expression of shock on his face and Diana retrieved Saint Sinner Valentine from its place near the far left wall. The weapon had been snatched from her hands with such force that she was surprised that the rifle's barrel had not been bent, but Saint Sinner Valentine was none the worse for wear and the barrel was still perfectly straight. She tapped the reload button and waited for more enemies to arrive but did not see any, so she began to walk towards the far door and prepare herself for whatever lay on the other side.
Diana's left hand touched the metal ring and she pulled the door open, then hurried through and closed it behind her.
-In the next corridor-
Diana was somewhat surprised to find that she had not reached the dungeon just yet. She was staring down another long hallway that was exactly the same as the one she had just left behind. In front of her loomed more torches in wall sconces, still more bodies in various states of disassembly, and another group of humanoid shapes. This one was ten strong. Diana scanned them with Guardian's Sight and confirmed that they were vampires.
The leader of the group, a young male vampire with red hair and red eyes, strode forward while the rest of his group stayed behind. He came to a stop about five meters from Diana and crossed his arms. Diana lowered Saint Sinner Valentine and slung it onto her right shoulder.
"I am here with an offer from Reginald." Diana stated in a calm voice. The leader of this group seemed inclined to hear her out because neither he nor his group made any aggressive moves.
"What is it? What is this offer?" He asked warily, suspecting a ruse by the huntress to take him by surprise and kill him. Diana slowly took the tube out of her left side pocket, set it on the floor, and kicked it to him. He saw it coming and stopped it with his left foot, then picked the tube up and opened it. He unfurled the scroll and began to read it while his group waited behind him.
[Post Word Count: 1,244]
[Total Word Count: 9,374/11,000]