The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 76

The invasion begins

It was hours of planning to enter the presumed Holzmann family lair, there was a possibility that besides putting their lives in terrible danger they were not about to make any significant progress; however, the information provided by Sister Judith Melzer was not something they could overlook, it was their duty to investigate. The German officers had arrived at the point on the map; indeed, there was a small railroad track encircling the area. The panorama was gloomy and to a certain extent charming, over the pines they could see the light of a sun that was about to set, they hoped that this event would never again instill fear after their labors.

There were no locomotives, the tracks were in an advanced state of disrepair. The German officers were moving along them in expectation that some unknown force was about to catch them by surprise, along with them were Liz and Jake. The other American agents had been instructed to monitor the perimeter from the air in search of possible exits and to intervene at the order of the others. Andreas and Tobias were leading the group, followed by Nick and Steffi, whom Liz had not seen in action since her first day at the camp.

They walked the path for a little over ten minutes, a large hole appeared at the bottom of the reliefs, its interior hidden under the trademark gloomy darkness they had forgotten so much about during their time in the asylum. Just approaching the entrance to the tunnel, a gust of icy wind froze Liz. The desolate panorama remained as steady as the rocky surfaces that surrounded her, and she heard laughing voices coming from the dark place.

"Everything all right with you?"

Steffi asked her, as the other agents watched the entrance to the house of the unknown. Liz nodded, paused for a few seconds to breathe in the fragrance of the perfume and continued on her way, beckoning Steffi to follow her.

Around the hills, only the sound of the current of the Hausmännin River broke through the spectral calm. Andreas Berger was the highest ranking officer among those preparing to enter the site; Jake was walking with him as a representative of the American government agents.

"All right" Before entering, Andreas gathered everyone at the entrance to give them one last speech, "I guess you all know what we could be facing. Whatever happens, it is important that we stay united, always with the mentality of moving forward; our commander and the rest of the assault team remain attentive to our signal" everyone nodded "before entering, last chance, is there anyone who is not in condition to go ahead" no one answered, it was Jake who decided to continue.

"Thank you very much, Andreas," said Jake, "know that from now on my institution is authorized to intervene in any activity that has to do with the extermination of these ghouls. Our pilot Steve will be attentive to any need that the German officers and ours may have" before continuing, he gave a sigh "There is a probability that we will not return, but everything is for the benefit of this place. That being the case, I think we will go in, if Lieutenant Berger agrees" Andreas nodded and gave the order to go in.

Liz knew that her fight had to be kept up to the end. Of everything she had had to do so far, invading the alleged Holzmann family lair might be the most dangerous of all her tasks; that horrid place was the source of all the bloody plague that terrorized Reich der Finsternis.

Under the guidance of Andreas and Jake, they entered the hill tunnel. The lantern lights revealed the interior of the place; the railroad tracks ended a little less than half a kilometer away, where nothing was visible apart from long webbed nets that covered the concrete walls that served as a base for the construction. They took a vow of silence as they noticed that every sound lingered along the road.

It did not have the appearance of a place that had been recently frequented, judging from the pitiful state of the walls, whose cracks emanated clusters of spiders or other insects. It was, however, the presence of human remains between the clumps of cobwebs that revived the creepy adventures of that sector, the stench wafting from it was sickening; everything pointed to being the work of the rippers. Somehow inexplicably, some strange force in Liz's deep subconscious told her that she had been there before.

As they moved on, the corridors became wider and the presence of decomposing human remains became more frequent, as well as stains and pools of blood; creating a ghostly atmosphere. At one point, a faint light flickered in the depths of the tunnel of death; without consulting her companions, Liz ran towards it and so did they. She was ready to investigate, until a male voice broke into her mind.

"Those who recognize the power of the elixir of life respond to the call of their own" it was the voice of Mr. Holzmann; Liz put herself on guard, but the man was nowhere to be seen. The other agents had heard nothing, not even Liz's reaction had been noticed.

The girl was overwhelmed, after three days in the asylum where she had received intense care from the sisters, neither her mind nor her body had succumbed again to the forces of evil. The laughing voices were still there, they did not disappear in spite of her attempt to remain calm; she made an effort to remember Judith's words.

"These are and always will be our domains," now it had switched to Ludwig's voice, "everything that your senses perceive is governed under the power of the new world order, an order dictated by my father and our future sovereign queen, Anneliese Holzmann".

"Where are you?" Liz mused, holding her forehead with her hand and feeling an odd aura accompanied by icy currents of mist moving closer.

"This place is an earthly representation of our abstract world. By coming here, you have overstepped the bounds of cosmic equilibrium. To answer your question, we are everywhere!"

Liz's heart was beating a mile a minute as a burning sensation in her chest immobilized her. "Show no weakness, be brave," she told herself as she did some breathing exercises despite the putrid smells the dark aura gave off. The voices of Mr. Holzmann and his son had disappeared, however, the aura did not fade; Liz tried to cover the foul odors with the scent of Amelie's order perfume; she flinched the moment a hand grabbed her arm, though it did not take her long to realize that Tobias had been responsible.

"Agent Sharrow, everything all right?" asked the German officer in a very low voice, of the five he was the agent with whom she had shared the least, he was the most reserved perhaps. Liz nodded and pointed to the light that had caught her attention; Nick was already examining the scene.

"An ordinary lit oil lamp" Nick affirmed taking the object from a wooden table that he posed to one side along with some papyrus that showed strange symbols "this is a proof that this place is not so deserted, in short, someone was here a short time ago".

The symbols that were drawn on the papyri mostly matched the alchemical elements that constituted the principle of the blood curse, another of them, was indisputably the pentagram of the Holzmann family. The scene was somehow curious for the agents, they did not understand what reason those individuals would have to leave all that in place, although with the idea that their targets were not far from their meeting point, they resumed with the search, taking the symbols as part of the evidence. The path grew wider as they entered the hellish tunnel; the earthen surface slowly left behind to give way to a brick path that opened in a T-shape until they came to a pillar where a fork formed.

"This makes things complicated for us" complained Andreas "we will have to split the group if we want to search the whole place" some of the people present were already making bad faces "calm down, I will ask other agents to come with us, we will send at least six agents per side and side".

"Stop" Jake stopped him "I'll do it, I think your team has already made a lot of sacrifices for this mission".

"Okay" Andreas had no objection with receiving the collaboration of the Americans "but I will have to report this to the commander and please tell them to hurry".

While Jake and Andreas made the necessary communications, Liz stopped to observe each of the corridors, the dark aura that surprised her during the first part of her tour was equally divided, although its power distilled a greater intensity in one of them to the point of being able to contemplate a somewhat peculiar face covered by the gloom that soon after vanished. She had the feeling that something important was hidden along this path, but she did not know if this path was really the way to the Holzmanns.