Decker walked with grim determination until he reached a lower, hidden room deep underground. He stopped in front of a black door. It was covered in strange markings that he did not recognize. He knocked on the door three times in a precise, rhythmic signal. The door opened automatically, pulling inward with a faint grinding sound.
When he entered the room, he saw the witch Vivian sitting in the middle of a large circle drawn on the floor. Flickering candles lined the edges of the circle, and metal cages were placed all around it. In the cages, waiting silently for their fate, was a collection of sacrifices. There was a fairy, a nine-tailed fox, an albino one-eyed monkey, a human slave, a tiger, and even a human baby.
Vivian sat perfectly still. After a couple of minutes, she raised her hands and began chanting magic words in a language Decker did not understand. When she finally stopped, she looked at Decker and told him to come into the circle.
"Take off your clothes," was all that Vivian commanded.
Decker did not hesitate to remove his clothing. He sat down on the ground with his legs crossed and turned his back to her. Vivian began to write strange, glowing symbols on his back and then on his chest. She used a dark, thick ink that seemed to pulse.
Vivian then took out the Eternal Shadow Duplicate Scroll and began reading the words inside.
The air in the room began to feel heavy and thick. The candlelights started to flicker wildly. The monkey in the cage began to scream because it sensed the great danger that was about to rise. A dark shadow began to leak out of the magic scroll. It had no real shape and looked like a shimmering void. It was a demon, and a sense of great evil energy came from it. The demon floated and stood silently in front of Vivian. She began to sweat a lot because she knew this demon could choose to eat her at any moment.
"Oh, Dark Almighty Shadow, we need your help to defeat a mighty foe," Vivian pleaded. Her voice was trembling slightly as she spoke. "We humbly offer these sacrifices. In exchange, we ask you to lend us your power. The vampire sitting here will be the one you will enter. He offers his soul as tribute. Help us get our revenge."
The dark shadow did not say or do anything for a couple of minutes. It just floated motionless in the air. Vivian was sweating buckets. She was so nervous that she could hardly move.
The shadow finally moved. It drifted toward the tiger first and entered its body. The tiger immediately began to thrash and roar in agony inside the cage. It started to bleed from its eyes, ears, and mouth. The creature was in terrible pain. After a few minutes, black, oily blood began to leak from the tiger's body and it died on the spot. The shadow then greedily ate the tiger's entire body. It shrank slightly as it absorbed the life force of the animal.
"Please, spare me, Master! I will do anything!" the human slave begged for his life. His voice was shaking with fear as he watched what happened to the tiger.
The shadow was deaf to the pleas of the prisoners. It began to move from cage to cage like a silent, swirling void until it had eaten everything. The screaming only stopped after the human slave was the last one to be consumed. Once it was fully fed, the shadow came together in front of Decker. This time, the entity looked like the dark shape of a human being.
Decker stood up and spread his arms. He was completely nude and covered only by the magic symbols Vivian had drawn. "Come. Let us combine into one. Fuse with me and eat my soul. In turn, let me kill my enemy."
The dark shadow did not say anything as it stood before Decker. After a few seconds, it began to chuckle. It was a dry, scratching sound.
"Hehehe. I come from a different dimension that is surrounded by darkness. I will grant your wish, vampire. But know this. If you die by the hands of your enemy, I will drag your soul to my dimension and keep feeding on it. You will not go to heaven or hell. You will simply stop existing. Are you sure you want to follow this path of self destruction just to destroy your enemy?"
"I already prepared myself. Live or die, I have no regrets," Decker stated. His voice was firm and certain.
The dark shadow then looked at Vivian. It pointed a shadowy finger at her. "You also want to use my power for revenge, right? Then I want your eye and your ear. Give them to me."
Decker turned his head to look at Vivian. She was still kneeling in the circle. "You want me to do it? I will make it swift."
Vivian did not say a single word. She only nodded her head. She accepted the bloody payment without any hesitation.
Decker walked up to her. The nails on his fingertips began to grow into sharp claws. He quickly removed Vivian's right eye from its socket and cut off her right ear in one fast motion. She did not make a single sound. She immediately used her own magic to stop the bleeding and began the slow, painful process of healing her deep wounds.
The vampire walked up to the dark shadow and held out the raw offerings. The shadow took the eye and the ear from Decker's hands and began to eat them. The sound of it eating was strangely loud in the quiet room.
"Even though I eat flesh, eating souls is more delicious," the shadow hissed. "I am going to take my time eating your soul. Hehehehe."
The dark shadow then exploded into dark smoke and began to enter Decker's body. As the smoke went into Decker's mouth, ears, and eyes, his body began to shake violently. He started to scream because he felt pain worse than anything he had ever imagined. The symbols written on his body started to spin and sink into his skin.
"AHHHH! Please, stop it! I cannot take it anymore!" Decker cried out. He began to scratch himself wildly. Because he was a powerful vampire, his wounds started to heal by themselves right away. This prevented him from passing out, so he had to feel every second of the pain.
Vivian stared at Decker for a long time. She watched the terrifying change happen. His body twisted and moved as the dark energy forced its way into his heart. She knew the process was working. Now, only time and more pain could finish the change.
"We will talk again tomorrow, Decker. I need to rest and get my mana back," Vivian said. Her voice was weak from the magic she had used and the pain of her own injuries. "For now, I will leave."
She turned and left the room. She closed the heavy black door behind her. Decker was locked inside the soundproof stone room. He was left alone in the candlelight, still in great pain. He gritted his teeth so hard his jaw looked like it might break. Every muscle in his body shook as the dark shadow settled into his body. He was becoming a new, monstrous tool for revenge.
======
In the underground training area of the Crimson Castle, John was busy fighting Russell once again. For the past few days, the young vampire had been stuck in this brutal routine. Even though John had won their first fight, the Mad Prisoner had beaten him badly every day after that. Russell had learned not to underestimate the boy. He noticed that John was learning and adapting very fast, which made him work harder in every session.
"Stop!" Reina screamed. She ended the fight suddenly. "We are finished with hand to hand fighting. Now I want you to fight each other with weapons."
"Wait, what!?" John was shocked by the order. He quickly ran up to her. "Aunt Reina, I do not think this is a good idea."
"Well, I think this is a brilliant idea," she said. She clapped her hands. Vampire knights immediately came inside. They brought a large pile of weapons for the two of them to choose from.
John went down on his knees and grabbed Reina's leg. "Please, Aunt Reina, I do not want to get stabbed!"
"I am going to have fun cutting you up, boy," Russell sneered. His grin was wide and mean.
John looked over at the Mad Prisoner for a second, then immediately craned his neck back up to Reina with wide, pleading eyes. "Please, Aunt Reina, I do not want to get cut up by that crazy bastard."
Reina's left eye flinched. She was clearly annoyed by how John was acting. In her eyes, he was behaving like a coward. She slapped the side of his head with a sharp, open hand. "Stop acting like a little baby and fight!"
John immediately got up and went to inspect the different weapons that were placed on the table. He could not decide what to use in this new kind of fight. Then he saw a simple metal staff and decided that would be his weapon of choice.
When Reina saw the young boy pick up the metal staff, she was a little shocked. "John, are you sure you want to pick that type of weapon?"
The young vampire smiled. "Yeah."
Russell was also surprised. He had grabbed a vicious, curved dagger and thought the boy would choose some kind of sword. "I am going to enjoy this. You are greatly mistaken if you think you can beat me with that type of weapon. I will make you regret it, boy!"
Reina then told them both to take their stand in the middle of the ring. Russell smiled meanly as he licked the blade of the dagger in his hand.
The vampire boy gripped the staff. His fear began to melt away into a strange mix of bravery and movie knowledge. "Russell, do you know Kung Fu? I watched a lot of those movies back home. I am going to beat the dog shit outta you!"
Russell then waved for the boy to come forward. "Hehehe. Come boy, come to daddy."