By One Drop of Blood

Part 6

The main door into the mansion is not even locked. For once something is not actively working against us. We all gather inside the entrance hall. The house is fancy. Build to remember the former glory of the old world where lords and ladies would govern over their serfs. As many of the plantation owners in the south they descend from elysian settlers the mansion is respectively decorated. Paintings, expensive furniture and fancy wallpapers. Painting on the walls and coven carpets on the ground are testimonies of the masters wealth. Decorated like the castles of old in Elysia you could think that no feral beast such as a vampire is living here but very much to the contrary are vampires known to accumulate wealth. The main hall leads to a lavish stairway and is branched on both sides into rooms such as the kitchen. Before we search the upper floor we should check every room on this floor and possibly check for a basement. We split up into two teams so it would not take that much time. I and one soldier branch of to look inside the kitchen. The other team goes into the fireplace room. Inside the kitchen is not much of interest. The only oddity is that there is not a single crumb of food inside the whole room. From the other room the men make themselves audible so we would come over to see what is happening. Taking fast steps we leave the kitchen into the fireplace room. Books on shelves and deep leather chairs paint the ordinary picture of a reading room with a fireplace that is always lit. The men there point their barrels at one of the top corners in the room. A straight black spot is resting in the corner. Black to the point of absorbing all light leaving nothing but a colourless void. The dark corners become alive. Moving schemes on the walls flow together forming a dark spot on the carpet. Looking onto the surface is appears as if the black mass is just the entrance into an endless pit filled with darkness. Throughout the dark surface moves a wave-like motion. It should not remain as a dark spot on the ground. A long hairy part of something living creeps from the black pit into the realm of reality. A large snout manifests out of the shadow. Filled with crooked teeth in several rows it opens up reviling chains bound through it. The teeth covered in blood and still chewing on a human arm that belonged to one of the slaves. The snout belongs to a four-legged presence that steps out of the pitch black cloud. Long wet fur and long claws on each of its four limbs are the first things that draw attention to them. The dog takes notice of us as soon as it has left the black pit. Spitting the chewed on arm to the ground it finds its new target in us. Barking and flinching its fangs at first it goes into the offence. All our rifles fire right into the dark creature. The bullets pierce the thick fur but are to no avail in stopping the beast. It is targeting me because I am the man on the front. Holding my rifle I got no time to draw my sabre before the sharp fangs rip into my flesh. The rifle has to be reloaded. Honestly at this point I should have upgraded my weapon for a new lever-action rifle. The last resort in such a situation is the newly acquired skill I got on the beach fighting the fish people. A spirited punch is enough to stop any creature that walks this earth. That is what I learned from training with the supernaturals like James. When I was able to concentrate my power for the first time on the scale of fighting against monsters I got up to training with the new ability. The aggregation has become easier and easier with every attack. Up to this point I can collect the energy without even concentrating on it. I collect my might and throw a punch against the wild dog. The force is enough to prevent any damage to myself and deflect the dog. In the meantime the soldiers reload their weapons and give up another volley. I have learned that a weapons fuelled by spirits is more effective against large opponents than bullets. Getting my sabre ready I engage the dog monster. Stabbing and slashing goes to waste. The monster is smart enough to dodge my attacks. From being the one attacked it is capable of switching to the attackers side by taking a lunge. Now from a lowered position it is able to prepare its next attack which will be jumping at me. Its mouth open up to bite at my head. Stretched to its full extend the whole jaw is big enough to swallow my whole head. The fangs are longer than knifes and definitely as sharp. I get my sabre between the jaw before is can close. Standing my ground I hold of the dog. The soldiers position themselves around us to repeat the fire. The dog twitches in pain. After all the bullets find their way into its body. Broken the monster lets loose of the sabre and goes into retreat. Inside the house it can not escape us. Being trapped in a corner of the room be form a half circle. Barking and flinching its teeth will not intimidate us. The dog is visibly in fear and pain. Showing these reactions would cause empathy in any ordinary person. But we are skilled and tasked with purging any danger for humanity. We will not stop before our mission is done. I draw my pistol to finish off the monster with a bullet to the head. We could not anticipate the change of tides that is about to unfold. Below our feet grows the same dark matter from which the dog has emerged. Stepping over it trying to dodge the soldiers and I trip from our positions. Who on earth could know what would happen to us if we get in contact with the shadows. The shadow stretches to the dogs feet. As the shadow touches the dogs feet the monsters large body begins to sink in like inside the swamps mud. There is nothing we could do about it in this short amount of time. Into the deep darkness from which the dog ascended it disappears again. Looking to the other soldiers I get that they feel the same about what just had happened. A dog monster creeped from a black pit on the ground, attacked us, became frightened and escaped until being dragged back to the pitch black depth from which it ascended. Straight flabbergasted we look around to find what we got to do next. We entered the mansion to search for a vampire. The dog could at the very best have been a werewolf but a werewolf does not climb out of shadows. What can we do next? The main floor is very much empty of everything indicating someone living here. Lastly we can only take the stairs to search the upper floor. Stepping back into the main hall we are immediately confronted by the next event.