“Lucy! Lucy, are you here?” Duncan ran through the crowd of groggy creatures, searching for his friend.
Bloody hell, she’s not.
Duncan breathed hard to calm himself. No, there was nothing to worry about. If Lucy wasn’t here, it just meant that she must be housed at the Marked Emissaries’ twelfth base. So all he had to do was locate where it was. And thankfully, these prisoners seemed lucid enough to speak now.
A small figure slammed into him without warning.
“You saved me.” Hilda held him tightly, nuzzling her face against his torso. “Thank you, Duncan… You care so much about me—”
Duncan pushed the girl aside as gently as he could and walked away. This wasn’t the time for sentimental moments; his friend was in trouble.
“Hey, hey! Sir, or Madam!” he called out to a werewolf; he could never tell their gender when they were transformed. “Was there a vampire called Lucy among you? About a hundred and seventy centimetres tall, black hair, nine hundred and twenty-six years old?”
“H— Huh?” the male werewolf responded, shifting back into his human form: a balding man who looked in his late forties. “N— No, I don’t recall. Where am I?”
Duncan approached another bronze-skinned leprechaun, who had a full head of auburn hair curly enough to make even Cupid envious. “Hey, have you seen—”
“A vampire called Lucy? About a hundred and seventy centimetres tall, black hair, nine hundred and twenty-six years old?” the leprechaun answered lazily. “That depends. Did she steal my pot of gold?”
“I don’t think so?”
“Then I do not know her.” He waved a dismissive hand. “No offence, but I have already spent nine months stuck in this place. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I would like to go home and attend to my cobbler business. Which way is the exit again?”
Duncan frowned, although he conjured a portal back to the physical world anyway. Desperate as he was to get some clues, it was no reason for him to stand between these people and their freedom. They had suffered long enough.
Movement broke around him as the creatures shuffled, slithered, or floated out of the liminal space. A few of them gave him looks of gratitude, but most were just concerned with getting the hell out of this messed-up, paranormal prison.
The last creature didn’t cross the portal but approached Duncan instead. Her facial features were distinctly East Asian, and she was also dressed in a traditional, white kimono. In fact, she could almost pass off as human, if not for the five huge fox tails rippling behind her.
Duncan almost gasped in recognition. “Fubuki?”
“Duncan Ward, a pleasure to see you again.” The Kitsune sank into a deep bow. “Please do not mind their manners. We have spent quite some time in this place, and we are all eager to get home. On behalf of everyone here, I thank you for freeing us. But as for Lucy Carpenter, I am sorry to say that she is not among us.”
“Hold on, did you not send an invitation to her just a few days ago?”
Fubuki shook her head. “I did no such thing. You might already know this, but all of us had been tricked into entering this prison by a certain organisation. I know not who they are, but I have overheard the name ‘Lucy Carpenter’ when they entered this place. If they have impersonated me and sent a false invitation to lure her into a trap, I am not surprised.”
Duncan’s gut twisted itself even further. “What else did you hear?”
“Only that Lucy is the last creature on their list and will be shifted to somewhere called a ‘tournament ring’. I have not the specifics, but those people were placing bets on who would be the last one standing, whatever that means.”
“Any idea where this ‘tournament ring’ might be?”
Straight, silvery hair sloshed around as Fubuki shook her head again. “They never mentioned it, but I happened to pull this from them in my struggle before they tied me down with those red strings— blessed chains; I think that’s what they’re called— and tossed me in here. I am not well-versed in black magic, but perhaps this will be of use to you instead.”
She reached into her Kimono and pulled out something that looked like a card. Like the envelope, a similar-looking glyph was engraved on it as well. But instead of a dizzying pull, Duncan could only sense waypoint magic swirling around it.
“I wonder…”
Dark, shadowy magic lit up his veins as the witch focused on the card in his hands. Duncan had only learnt basic black magic back when he needed the knowledge to cure a patient from a voodoo curse. It had been years since he needed to use this type of magic as well, but this shouldn’t be too difficult.
With a soft grunt, he snapped his fingers as though trying to open a portal. Nothing happened. Not physically, at least.
Duncan blinked rapidly as he handed the card back to the Kitsune, who tucked it back in her clothes. A location was etched into his mind now, although he was unable to open a portal to it at the moment. It was about fourteen thousand kilometres away in Japan, after all.
Besides, he wasn’t expecting that card to bring him directly to his next location. Miguel wouldn’t have been so foolish as to create a waypoint directly into one of his bases. But at least Duncan knew now where to go next, thanks to the carelessness of the cultists.
There was no time to waste.
“Once again, Mister Duncan Ward, thank you for freeing all of us.” Fubuki bowed a second time. “Unfortunately, I am out of energy reserves to aid you in your rescue operation, but I sincerely wish you the best of luck in saving our mutual friend.”
Duncan nodded as the woman crossed the portal.
“Hilda—” he called out, but the girl was already by his side, looking at him with an unusually smitten expression. “Great, there you are. Come, I have the location of the last base. Let us make haste.”
“What about Mother?”
“She’s obviously not here, so we’re one step ahead of the Marked Emissaries, thank the stars.” Duncan grinned. “I’m sure we’ll catch her at the last base. It’s in Japan, so we’ll be taking the Witch’s Train. Fingers crossed nothing happens to us this time.”
“I’m not worried; you’re so reliable.” Hilda giggled, wrapping her arm around his and pressing her body against him. “I know you’ll always be there for me.”
Duncan pursed his lips slightly and pulled his arm away.
~ ~ ~
Lucy Carpenter woke to the sound of footsteps nearby. Cold gravel met her palms as she pushed herself upright, instantly energised by the darkness surrounding her. Wherever she was, there were no windows to let the sun in.
Two points of red lit up as the vampire scanned her surroundings. She noted a few things while weighing her options at the same time.
Firstly, she was in a cell. Not just any cell, but one that was laced with holy magic on its exterior. Merging with the shadows to escape wasn’t an option; whoever had kidnapped her had obviously created this cell for the sole purpose of housing Nephilims like her.
Secondly, she wasn’t alone. It felt faint through the holy magic barrier around the cell, but she could still sense a very light trace of dark magic nearby. If there were more kidnapped people like her, perhaps she could find a way to communicate with them and escape together.
Lucy winced as she clutched her chest. The flesh wound had finally healed, but it was still aching like a nasty bruise. Bloody hell, what happened?
One moment, she was in Fubuki’s empty house. And the next, someone plunged a silver sword straight through her heart from behind. The shock had knocked her out instantly as well, so she didn’t even get a chance to see her assailant.
Frankly speaking, it was a miracle she had even survived that supposedly fatal blow. Nine hundred years of magic reserves certainly made her a lot tougher to kill.
Now that Lucy thought about it, Fubuki was the loner type, even for a Kitsune. If she had left her solitary cabin in the woods, she should have been back within an hour. But judging from the dried-up plants in her house, she obviously hadn’t been home in weeks, maybe even months.
Was she kidnapped by the same people?
Footsteps clicked outside Lucy’s cell again. Whoever was patrolling outside had finally decided to stop. An animalistic growl escaped the vampire’s throat as two long fangs slowly extended from her gums. These people were going to pay for her troubles.
The lock on the steel door groaned and clicked. Lucy crouched like a cat, getting ready to pounce at whoever was foolish enough to open the door.
The hinges creaked. Dark magic crackled around her body.
And then the door swung open.
With a growl not too different from that of a wild jaguar, Lucy lunged at the human-looking figure in front of the door. Blood splattered as her claws ripped open the man’s flesh before she slammed him onto the ground. The vampire threw her head back with a loud hiss, driven by anger and pure bloodlust—
Hot pain shot through her whole body as something burning bound her limbs to her sides. Smoke sizzled from her raw flesh as the red strings around her body slowly dragged her away from her victim. Lucy struggled through the pain, all the while screeching like a demon in the middle of an exorcism.
“Oho! She’s a feisty one, ain’t she?” The man that she had pushed to the ground stood back up, patting the dust from his yellow vest. “A contender, perhaps?”
“Aye, the last survivor is also a vampire,” one of the five people restraining Lucy said without a hint of stress in his voice. All five were dressed in similarly designed outfits, as though they were wearing some sort of uniform. “Wouldn’t be surprised; vampires are tough to kill permanently. Think she’d make it to the end?”
“Not hard, she only has one opponent to fight.”
“What are you dolts talking about?” Lucy gritted her teeth, still struggling in vain against her bindings. “What opponent? What the hell is going on? Let me go, or you’ll regret this!”
“So much energy! I can’t wait to see the show she’s going to put on for us!” Her captor clapped his hands as the others hauled her forward. “You, my fair lady, are earning the privilege to be more than just a Nephilim. If you survive your bout, that is.”
That’s it. These folks are mad.
Red filled the vampire’s eyes as hypnosis magic flooded them. Lucy turned to the closest person, focusing her mind on the magic. “Heed my command, mortal— Ow!”
The spell broke abruptly as someone kicked her from behind without warning, sending the woman sprawling onto a sandy floor. A shining cage dropped from the ceiling, trapping Lucy within it.
“Oi, what the hell?” Lucy rushed forward, gripping the silver bars. “What is this? What’s going on?”
The cage stung right back at her, and she let go of the bars immediately. She flicked her palms to dispel the painful, numbing sensation. Bloody hell, was there holy magic coating this cage as well?
“Don’t bother, lady. You’re not getting out of this so easily.”
Lucy swung around at the slightly familiar voice, only then noticing a red-haired woman sitting cross-legged on the other end of the cage. The woman was dressed in a similarly coloured vest as well as a pair of black bottoms.
“Long time no see, Lucy Westenra. Or do you prefer ‘Lucy Carpenter’?” She had a distinctly slurred Transylvanian accent. “I never expected to meet you in such circumstances, but I guess fate has its ways of bringing unsavoury people together.”
Lucy let go of the cage as she stepped back, breathing heavily in disbelief. It had been almost a century, but there was no way she couldn’t recognise this woman.
“Ileana? What are you doing here?"14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Ya5B1qB7W
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