Blood and Tears - Grumbo Vampire AU

Chapter 32: Jailbreak

"I don't see any guards," Xisuma tucked away his silver blade as he spoke, continuing down the spiral staircase that led deeper into the castle. "I think we're in the clear."

"Let's hurry and get out of here. I can't forget about the last time we were here." Wels shuddered, the sight of Scar consuming Etho's magic burned into his memory. The knight tried to push it out of his thoughts for now, as there were more important things at stake.

X peered around the corner of the stairwell, glancing at the heavy iron door that led into the dungeon. "It's clear down here, too." He waved a hand, inviting the knight to follow. "Seems like we got lucky."

"Yeah, well, it's not everyday a horrific beast attacks the entirety of the village." Wels shrugged it off, though he drew his sword, feeling an uneasy cold that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

The door was locked, with no key in sight. Xisuma drew his dagger, pushing the tip of the blade into the keyhole. He worked the knife into the hole, shifting the handle to try and grant some sort of give. A few seconds later, the lock clicked open. "There we go."

"That's a nice blade, are you sure you should be using it as a lock pick?" Wels asked, clearly a bit sad at the sight of a beautiful silver being used to pick a rotting old lock.

"It's fine. I won't be hunting vampires anymore, so I don't need it." Xisuma tucked his blade back in its holster, grabbing the handle of the dungeon door and tugging it open. There was a low and dark creak of rusting hinges as the door was pulled open, revealing the prison beyond the door.

Wels grabbed a torch from the wall to guide them in the darkness before the two ventured inside. Inside the prison was a rusted key that hung from a single nail wedged between the bricks. X snatched that from the wall, turning to the first cell he could find. He shoved the key into the lock and twisted it, before swinging open the cell door.

"Come on, let's get these guys out of here." Xisuma said, helping an imp-like creature to his feet.

Impulse looked very skeptical, but also had no other choice. "Thanks," he said, his rugged and torn wings uncomfortably shifting as he spoke.

"Don't mention it. How many of you are there?"

"A-A couple, I think. But there were some taken away from us, the king, he—"

"We have another group on the surface. They're working on finding the rest of you guys." Wels explained, his gloved hand gripping slightly tighter to the handle of his blade.

Impulse noticed his drawn weapon. His eyes narrowed. "I've seen what you humans do. You're trying to trick us, you probably want to chop off my wings so I can't fly away." He growled, bits of fire coming from the corner of his mouth.

"Nono, it's not that." Wels turned his attention towards the damp ceiling of the dungeon, his eyes focused on the grimy stone. "I just have a bad feeling."

"It's okay, Impulse." A voice further down called, one that was easily recognizable as TFC. "They're gonna help us. Just trust them."

He was still reluctant, though he followed X out of the cage and into the hall. "Wait here, we're gonna let everyone out before we escape. We have a back route planned out so we won't get caught." Said the former vampire hunter. The imp nodded slightly.

Xisuma went from cell to cell, unlocking the doors and throwing them open before heading to the next cage. He was trying to be quick, not knowing when the guards would be back. Hopefully Mumbo's rampage would last a bit longer, long enough for all the monsters to get out safely, at least.

"Finally," A man-pig creature stretched as he walked out of his cell. "Now let's take down this monarchy."

"No Techno, we're gonna get out of here. We can't risk anyone getting hurt." TFC shook his head, his silver chains rattling as he did so. Techno huffed, but didn't argue with the vampire.