The vampire attacked again and, this time, the target was Sonia, who however managed to dodge and counterattack from behind, wounding the vampire with a sword slash. Volkov had to retreat a few steps, returning to the door threshold licking his blood-soaked hands.
This time it was Liza who attacked, throwing herself against the vampire and attacking with a sword attack, but the vampire managed to protect himself by blocking the attack with his claws and, hitting her, made her hurl herself against the wall.
Aria watched the fight from a corner. The room wasn't too big and, if she had intervened, she could have endangered the other two girls.
"But I don't want to sit around doing nothing..." she thought, so she began to look for solutions on her usefulness.
"Now that I think about it, this is my first real fight against a vampire." she was so excited that her hands began to shake without being able to stop. The sword swung and she watched helplessly as the director attacked the vampire and the vampire defended himself from her attacks. Aria felt so weak even with a weapon.
She stepped back of her own accord, placing the coffin between her and the vampire. She wanted to just stand there and watch and hoped that the vampire would die with the next attack. She was so mentally weak that she didn’t even recognize herself at that moment.
The huntress in her was gone.
In its place, fear.
Fear that erupted into a scream when she felt a hand grab her right shoulder. The hand was the color of coal and the nails were chipped and green from the dirt. The creature, whatever it had been, was literally coming out of the wall.
“Ghoul!” Sonia shouted, launching more attacks at the vampire.
Even Liza had to dodge a hand that tried to grab her. In total, two ghouls came out of the walls and now the fight had become three against three.
The ghoul closest to Aria finished coming out of the wall. He was shorter than her and had no facial features, except eyes and a mouth from which teeth as sharp as knives protruded. His arms were powerful and muscular, as was the rest of his body.
The girl, without hesitation, perhaps out of a spirit of survival, launched an attack and hit the ghoul on the arm, cutting it in two to his great amazement. Before she could even rejoice in this attack, the ghoul began to laugh in amusement, taking the rest of the arm on the ground to use as a weapon.
The huntress took a step back and the sword began to swing again.
“Focus, Aria!” Sonia said, “I'll take care of Volkov, you two keep the ghouls busy!”
The girl looked around and could see how Sonia was attacking and receiving attacks from the vampire. They were all very fast attacks and it was hard to tell who was getting the better of them. The metallic sound of claws screeching on the blade dictated the rhythm of the fight. Liza, on the other hand, dealing with the other ghoul, seemed determined and her face showed no fear whatsoever.
She had already managed to stick her blade into the ghoul’s chest, but he disappeared, walking back down the basement corridor.
“Arrrrgh!” the ghoul shouted in front of Aria, and the girl’s attention returned to him. The ghoul advanced trying to capture her, but Aria quickly dodged and the adrenaline made her throw a slash that tore the ghoul’s back.
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The monster, however, was able to stop the sword just in time for the blade to cut its body, stopping it with its hand and holding it hostage.
Aria, therefore, did the first thing that came to mind, without thinking too much.
She kicked the ghoul, but it didn't hurt itself, simply grabbing her leg and stopping it. The ghoul remained half a second to observe her, and then threw the girl against the wall.
Aria hit her head and her vision began to play tricks on her. From one ghoul, they became two, and then back to one. The creature advanced towards her again and Aria stood up with difficulty, taking the sword and starting to breathe to gain breath.
Adelphe had taught her that breathing was essential to concentrate, especially when she lost focus in combat. She had spent the last few days hitting that dummy and breathing before striking a blow, that now the only thing she had to do was replicate those movements. It was important for Adelphe to always and constantly stay focused. There was no need for many attacks, just one that hit the opponent, because the important thing was to hit.
So Aria did.
She began to breathe as the ghoul advanced towards her. The sound of Sonia's sword and the vampire's claws stopped, as did the dull thud of the ghoul's footsteps. At that moment there was only her, her sword and her target, her first victim. When the creature was only a few swords away, Aria struck and, with a precise cut and a scream, she severed the head of her enemy, who spun across the room until it hit the wall.
The body fell.
“Yes!” she exclaimed, but then she had to recover from that triumph immediately when Volkov approached her to attack her. She tried to parry, but the vampire was so fast that she almost looked death in the face.
Before the vampire could hurt her, Aria could see a sword coming out of his chest. Sonia had managed to stab him and make him fall to her knees. The vampire started to scream, but the huntress kicked him so hard that he forgot all the pain.
“Speak, vampire. Tell us who you are.” Sonia began.
The vampire simply gnashed his teeth and roared. At that moment he looked like nothing more than a rabid dog deprived of its meal.
The director then put a hand on his head and spoke several words in a language unknown to Aria. The vampire screamed at first, but then calmed down and no longer put up any obstruction.
“Vladimir… Volkov…” he said in a small voice.
“Were you the one who attacked the priests and stole the chalice?” the huntress asked.
“I won’t tell you s-“ the vampire shouted when Sonia pressed her fingers on his head, “Yes… it was me…”
Sonia used all her power to make the vampire speak. She was visibly tired and her arm was slowly turning purple. Aria didn’t know what kind of power she was using, but something reminded her of Adelphe’s words and the use of magic.
“We have to… resurrect… HE…” the vampire continued, “Ritual… chalice… complete…”
Aria approached the director to comfort her and, after touching her arm, she also felt a feeling of tiredness, as if Sonia was trying to take her life forces.
“Who is this HE?” the director asked.
“HE… HE…”
“Why did you leave your family crest on the wall?”
“Boris… ordered… so… you… could… reach… me…”
Sonia pulled her hand away. Aria could see how the director was pale in the face and could barely stand. With a final scream, the director cut off the vampire’s head with a clean slash of the sword.
After sitting her down and checking her arm, as much as she knew about medicine, Aria searched the director’s bag for some medicine.
“It was Boris who ordered the murder of the priests…” the girl said, “and who stole the chalice… do you know who this ‘HE’ is?” she asked.
“No, I don’t know who is it.” Sonia replied.
The director was fighting the pain in her arm and Aria, finding some sort of ointment, applied it to the hunter’s skin.
“Will it heal?” the youngest asked.
“Yes… I used magic, even though I never should have… it’s dangerous.”
“But now we know what Boris wants to do.”
“Aria… a ritual on this level is not something to be taken lightly. Bringing someone back to life is not something that happens every day, and if it’s done by vampires, it could be a catastrophe.”
“I understand…”
Aria had never heard of rituals until now, and would have laughed if someone had told her that someone could be brought back to life.
“It’s more serious than expected.” she said.
The two women were interrupted when Liza returned from the corridor with the ghoul’s head held by the hair.
“Liza!” Sonia exclaimed, “We have important news to tell you and-“ she stopped speaking when she saw that the huntress was covered in blood and was holding a hand on her shoulder.
When Liza removed her hand, a bite could be seen, and the girl fainted.
