The secret chamber was silent. Only John's heavy breathing and the pained groans of the Clan Lord broke the quiet. Leonidas was slumped against the cold rock wall of the man-made room. He managed a weak, dark chuckle. He coughed twice.
"And how are we going to escape? I am already as good as dead," the old vampire said.
John did not look defeated. He smiled with the pride of a young man. "But I have a plan."
The Clan Lord snapped his eyes open. His gaze was full of bitterness. "Don't be stupid, boy. If I were not here, you would have died five times already! You were scared for your life just moments ago. Tell me, how are you going to kill the troll? How will you move the boulder after that? Accept your fate, boy. We are only delaying the end."
Leonidas closed his eyes again. He was sealing himself off from the world.
John felt hurt by the dismissal, but then he remembered his secret weapon. He reached into the pocket of his skinny jeans. Decker's henchmen had forgotten to search him. They did not think the boy was a threat. They did not think he had anything of value. John pulled out his storage ring and searched through it. He found a small glass vial.
"Hey, Grandpa, what about this?" John asked.
Leonidas slowly opened one eye. His vision was blurred, but he focused on the clear liquid in the vial. "An antidote? Where did you get that?"
John's face lit up with pride. "Well, after the werewolf incident, I went to Porto. I asked him for an antidote in case I ever saw a werewolf again. Now, my smart thinking is going to help us! Here, take the antidote, Grandpa. Get us out of here."
Leonidas smiled lightly. It was a dark and sad smile. "Hehehe. Sadly, that antidote only works for a low-level werewolf. It will not touch the venom of an Alpha. Do you really think a normal werewolf poison could stop me so easily?"
Suddenly, a massive surge of pain hit the Clan Lord.
"Aaaahhhh!" Leonidas could not stop himself from screaming. His body began to shake and twist wildly on the floor.
John began to panic. "What is wrong, Grandpa? What can I do?"
Blood began to leak from the ears, eyes, and mouth of the Clan Lord. He was in extreme agony. His eyes began to glow a bright, furious red. His fangs grew long and sharp past his lips. Thick black veins appeared clearly on his neck.
"It fucking hurts!" Leonidas roared. He twisted on the ground in pain.
John moved fast to help. He quickly took off his black jacket. He threw the dark fabric over the body of his grandfather. The boy was trying desperately to provide any comfort he could while the older man's body continued to shake.
One hour of painful twisting and turning passed. Finally, Leonidas became silent. The Clan Lord fell into a deep, unconscious sleep.
"Damn, is a werewolf's bite really that effective?" John muttered to himself. The boy scratched his cheek as he watched his grandfather suffer. He felt stunned by the immense pain the vampire was in.
His eyes moved around the dismal area. In a dark corner, a large cloth covered a pile of items. John walked closer and carefully pulled the cloth away. A stack of dry, seasoned wood sat underneath. "Lucky," the boy breathed out.
Using the wood he found, John made a small fire not far from where Leonidas was placed.
Another hour went by. Leonidas slowly opened his eyes. The scary red glow in his gaze was starting to fade. A crackling sound came from nearby. The old man turned his head and saw John sitting calmly near the small fire. The boy was poking the flames with a long wooden stick.
Leonidas coughed painfully. John quickly left his spot and rushed to his grandfather's side.
"Hey, Grandpa, are you alright? Here, drink some blood," the boy said. John pulled a bottle of blood from his storage ring. Leonidas took a small sip, but the vampire instantly spat it out onto the floor.
"My body is rejecting the blood," the vampire lord rasped.
"Oh." John slowly put the bottle of rejected blood back into his storage ring. The young man returned to his seat near the small, comforting fire. He decided to use this brief rest to ask about the painful history that led them here.
"Grandfather, what happened to Decker's daughter? What did you do?" John asked.
Silence filled the cavern for a long moment. Only the crackling of the small fire could be heard. "Why do you want to know? It will not change the fact that we are going to die in here," Leonidas said.
"I want to at least know why he hates you so much," John insisted. The boy leaned forward. "I could see the anger and pain in his eyes. I am here because of you. I have the right to know."
The Clan Lord went silent again. A heavy sigh escaped his lips. The old man realized the truth was owed to the boy who was risking his life for him.
"Well, it is not a long story," the Patriarch said.
"Tell me," John urged.
"It was many years ago. I cannot remember exactly how long. It was daytime. I was visiting a friend from a long time ago. We were sitting and chatting about the good old days. Suddenly, we saw dark clouds coming out of nowhere. My friend told me this was the result of dark magic. We had to find the source. We had to stop it before it caused a great catastrophe."
Leonidas paused for a moment. He was gathering his strength to keep speaking. "We decided to split up to look for the source of the power. I managed to find a small wooden house in the woods. Sensing the energy from deep inside that house caused shivers to creep up my spine."
The memory was clearly agonizing for the old vampire. "I knew that I could not wait for my friend to arrive. I decided to act quickly. When I opened the door, a great deal of dark magic and energy wrapped around me. As one of the strongest vampires at that time, it had been a long time since I felt that much fear. I saw a girl standing in the middle of the room. She was holding a book."
John's mind raced. He was connecting the terrifying pieces of the story. "I guess the girl was Decker's daughter?"
The Clan Lord nodded his head once. "Correct. And the book she was holding was no ordinary book. It was as if the book were alive. It had eyes that looked at me. They stared into the depths of my soul. I started to move closer. The girl spoke, but it was not her own voice that spoke to me."
"What did she say, Grandpa?" John asked. His voice was hushed with dread.
Leonidas looked toward the small fire. "It said, 'Stay away, creature of the night.' I ignored the warning. I tried to take the book from her hands. Suddenly, she screamed. A huge shockwave erupted, blowing out every window and door in the house. The force was so great it nearly knocked me off my feet, but I managed to stay upright and snap the book from her hands. Then the book began to let out a terrible screech. A huge portal started to form behind her. I looked at the little girl. Her eyes and teeth were as black as coal. She spoke again. This time, it sounded like many deep voices. She was possessed by demons."
John's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Wait, what? Are you telling me that demons exist?"
Leonidas continued with the harrowing story. "Black liquid leaked out of her eye sockets... I decided to act on my own. I pierced her heart with my four fingers. I thought that killing the girl would close the anchor. But it did not have an effect. I tried to pull my hand back... I was trapped."
"What do you mean, Grandpa? Why was your hand stuck?"
"It was like the girl's body had become a cage," the Clan Lord replied. "For a few seconds, we just stood there. Then, a massive force of dark energy erupted. This time, the house truly exploded into bits around us. Wood and stone flew everywhere, leaving nothing but the foundation. But I did not move. I could not move. The girl began to absorb my energy. I could feel my strength being sucked out of my arm and into her chest."
The Patriarch stared into the small fire. "I struggled with everything I had. I was fighting to keep my soul from being drained. But my body was frozen. To anyone watching from the outside, I would have looked perfectly still. I was just standing in the ruins with my fingers buried deep in her chest."
Moments later, his friend arrived. He saw the chaos and the portal.
"My friend finally appeared to seal the portal. I was desperate for help. I yelled at him. I asked what took him so long while I was being drained dry."
The old man looked at John. "My friend just looked at me with a calm face. He said he had to handle a small problem before coming to my aid. I did not ask what it was. I was too busy trying to survive."
The demon within the girl screamed in pain as Leonidas finally broke free and retaliated with fire. "My friend used his magic to push the creatures back into the abyss. Then, something else happened. The portal began to shrink, but a huge demon reached out from the other side. It grabbed the edges of the portal with its massive hands. It used its strength to stretch the opening wider, forcing itself into our world. Its skin was blacker than pitch."
The Clan Lord's voice trembled slightly. "The monster grabbed the girl. It spoke to her in its dark, demonic language. Suddenly, the girl's original consciousness returned. The blackness faded from her eyes. For the first time, I saw her own face. It was full of pure terror and fear. She was just an innocent victim in a nightmare. The demon then instantly bit her head off. It returned with her into the dissolving portal. My friend then closed the portal completely before anything else could come through it."
Leonidas finished the agonizing confession about the past. "After the portal was closed, I sensed someone nearby. I used my remaining strength to check the area. I walked to the thick bushes at the edge of the ruins. There, I saw a man lying unconscious on the ground. It was the first time I ever saw Decker."
The old vampire coughed, wiping black blood from his lip. "I looked at my friend. I asked if that was his doing. My friend nodded, explaining that upon arriving at the ruined house, he saw the man crouched in the bushes. Assuming it was the father of the girl, my friend knew that if a fragile human ran out there to save her, the demon would slaughter the mortal instantly. My companion decided to knock the man out to prevent him from doing something reckless and getting himself killed."
John listened, his mind spinning. "Grandpa... he probably saw you stab his daughter through the chest. That was likely the last thing he saw before your friend knocked him out. He was unconscious when the demon came out and grabbed her. He probably doesn't even know a demon ate her! He thinks you killed her." John stopped, grabbing his head. "This is so complicated! Jeez!"
"It was a tragedy with no right answer," Leonidas rasped. "Years later, when he approached me as a businessman, I recognized him immediately. I assumed he didn't recognize me. Out of a strange sense of pity and respect, I worked with him. He had built an empire from the ashes. I respected that. I never imagined he was harboring such a deep, silent hate for all those decades. It seems that just like his daughter, he made his own deal with the devil."
"Thank you for telling me," John said quietly, throwing more wood into the fire.
Leonidas watched John's back, his eyes narrowing with a cold, final resolve. "John, there is something else I must say."
"What is it, Grandpa?" John asked, turning around.
The old man's voice turned sharp. "That time when you and the maid were hunted by the wolf in the forest… I did not know where you were exactly. But when your grandmother told me to send help, I refused to save you. I used the excuse that the enemy wanted me to deploy my men into the forest so they could attack the castle while it was weakened."
The Clan Lord's eyes flashed with a cruel honesty. "But in truth, it shouldn't even have been a debate. If it had been Thomas lost in those woods, I would have sent every soldier I had without a second thought. But for you? I gave no such command. To tell you the truth, I was hoping for you to die."
John froze, the wooden stick in his hand snapping. "What?"
"The first time you came to my castle, I wanted to kill you, but your father saved you. I was disappointed in my daughter for breeding with a werewolf. To this day, I don't know how this is possible, I…"
The hybrid boy was consumed by blinding, righteous anger. He thought about the trauma and the struggle he had endured, realizing his own blood relative had been waiting for his death. Being born a hybrid is not my fault, he thought, the injustice fueling his rage. He stood up and walked the few steps to where his grandfather was sitting.
Leonidas looked up at John and saw the fury blazing in his eyes. "Are you going to beat up a dying old man?"
John gazed down on the Clan Lord and answered with cold, absolute rage. "Yes. Fu** you."
John launched forward, kicking Leonidas hard in the stomach and following up with a brutal series of punches to the face. Leonidas roared in extreme pain, the venom amplifying every blow. "You little fu**er, I will kill you!"
The boy ignored the threat, his fury focused. He pulled the Clan Lord's legs open. "This is for me," he growled, kicking him savagely in the groin. "This is for Elena," he said, delivering a second, brutal kick to the same spot, and then kicking him again and again in his family jewels.
Leonidas screamed in agonizing pain, the paralysis preventing him from protecting his core. "Stop, please," he begged, his voice broken.
The young boy continued to kick, his voice strained with fury. "You don't abandon your family, you piece of sh*t." John kicked Leonidas until the Clan Lord finally passed out from the excruciating, localized pain.
John retrieved a dagger from his storage ring and, with great difficulty, forced himself to cut open his wrist. He quickly poured his hybrid blood inside his unconscious grandfather's mouth, forcing the potent liquid down his throat. John then retrieved the useless antidote vial and poured the clear liquid into Leonidas's mouth. He knew the antidote was worthless, but he used it as an excuse to wash down the potent hybrid blood that was still clinging to Leonidas's lips.
He then took out a clean white piece of cloth and wiped the blood from Leonidas's mouth, meticulously making sure there was no evidence that he had used his own cursed blood to save the Clan Lord's life.
John clenched his fist, the rage now cold, replaced by fierce, protective determination. "We have to get outta here."