A House of Evil

A Painting and A Vampire of Great Power

The other two eventually reach a room with no demons in it, but contains only a painting. Laurence just feels uncomfortable with what the painting is of but Barrone can sense the power it is gaining for the whole castle.

"This must be one of those paintings Blue was talking about." Barrone murmurs.

"I don't like it." Laurence tells Barrone. "It makes me feel like I need to leave." He adds.

"That's a defence mechanism. It is a gateway to another dimension, probably somewhere hellish with the energy it's emitting." The sorcerer explains.

"Then we should destroy it! Rip it to shreds!" Laurence growls, taking out an axe he's recently acquired.

"Not so fast. The second we physically destroy it, it will regenerate." Barrone corrects.

"Then what do you suggest?" Laurence snaps.

"If I align my magic with it we could use it as a bridge. We can destroy its power at its source." Barrone replies.

"That sounds dangerous." Laurence points out.

"It's the only solution I can come up with." Barrone replies. "This much dark power can't be just ignored."

Laurence smiles at his partner, starting to become proud of how much he's grown. "What're we waiting for?" He checks.

Barrone links his hand with Laurence's, making a green glow surface while he connects his other hand with the painting. Soon they are both emitted in his green glow before being brought through the painting with some force.

When they arrive on the other side, Laurence gives Barrone a strange look. "What now?" He checks.

Barrone takes a moment to catch his breath back from using so much of his magic. "We find the source and destroy it." He adds when he's regathered his strength.

"Do you have any idea how we're going to get back to the castle?" Laurence asks after another moment of silence.

"I should be able to do the same with this strange painting of the castle. You've got to take a moment to appreciate the artwork." He adds.

"I doubt it. Let's get a move on." Laurence replies.

As they move through, they notice that the painting's world is some kind of distorted 17th Century European town. At first they try taking on the monsters one on one but eventually find it easier to team up on the creatures. Barrone finds the creature in the book Blue gave them and uses a spell from his limited collection that he knows which is some of their weaknesses or just works as a distraction while Laurence gets behind it to slaughter it.

Barrone picks up every scrap of paper he can find for spells and notices that a few have the same handwriting as the book. Those ones have ingenious spells where someone with Laurence's expertise could also contribute, despite not having any magical ability at all.

When they get to a large room, Barrone notices a sturdy door on each end, as they get shut in immediately.

"The source of power is here, in this room. It's almost the size and the strength as the creature back at the castle so we should be careful." Barrone warns Laurence.

Laurence nods and pulls out a crossbow, checking all of the corners of the room to stop it from sneaking up on them.

Both of them jump into alert when a giant crashes through the ceiling and lands in front of them. Barrone shivers when he notices the creature's head slowly floating next to it.

"Aim for the head." Laurence chuckles as he fires one of the arrows between its eyes. Both the head and the body release a loud roar before pouncing towards them. Barrone immediately holds out his hands towards it and sends a stream of fire towards them. The creature lets out a roar in pain before snuffing the flames out. Barrone reacts quickly and sends harsh winds towards the creature, separating the head from the body and disorientating the both of them. Laurence uses this to thrust his long sword up from underneath the creature's chin. It lets out a high pitched squeal as the body starts flailing around until it collapses and disintegrates in the same manor that the key did.

Barrone gives Laurence a surprised look. "We did it." He smiles.

Laurence goes deep in thought for a while before chuckling as well, with mostly relief. "That we did." He adds.

"The painting's source of power is completely gone, the rest of the demons will be considerably weaker and The Cardinal's power has been weakened." Barrone nods.

"Is that what my pets have been warning me about?" A deep voice chuckles as a powerful force passes over Barrone and Laurence.

Laurence gets the feeling of his lungs being crushed, making him drop to his knees and struggle to breathe while Barrone becomes intimidated by the sensation of the dark power and looks around to try to find its source, his sight blacking out slightly.

When the vampire reveals himself he strokes Laurence's hair mockingly. "I was wondering when they'd send replacements but I never thought they'd send two completely unprepared kids."

Barrone panics and tries to use his most powerful spell on the vampire to get him away from Laurence. The vampire doesn't even need to look as it deflects the deadly force of winds and turns its head to slowly look him in the eyes. Barrone freezes up at the sight and also struggles to breathe.

"You can't seriously think you can defeat me with a spell like that." He smirks. "Please, you're just kids!" He laughs. "Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you: humanity's finest!" The vampire cheers. "If you two can't even be in an arena of a room with a vampire, how the hell do you think you can defeat the Dark Lord himself?" He taunts, stroking its claws along Laurence's neck.

Laurence reaches for his weapon, weakly trying to gasp for air.

The vampire notices this and kicks the sword out of his reach with a low chuckle. "Not so fast."

The second the vampire looks away from Barrone, he also drops to his knees and struggles to get even the slightest bit of air back in his lungs.

The vampire shakes his head at them in faux disappointment and strokes Barrone's hair with his other hand. "You know, your predecessors were stronger than you are. They didn't drop to their knees whenever I entered the room, they put up a real fight but..." He tilts up both of their chins so that they are looking up at him. "As expected, they met their match." He smirks.

Laurence and Barrone manage a tremble, desperate tears forcing their way out of their eyes as they get weaker by the second.

The vampire looks them in the eye before simply letting go with a laugh, unlocking the doors as he leaves the room. As the vampire leaves, the dark force over the both of them gets lifted immediately. Laurence goes to gasping to catch his breath back while Barrone passes out.

"Barrone!" Laurence chokes, pulling himself to his feet despite the shakiness in his knees. He manages to stagger over to his partner but trips up over his leg. The fall to the floor also sends Laurence into unconsciousness.