289 Transylvania II : The Highway

Nobody knew who made the first move, but as soon as Malek had finished talking, every vampire waiting in front of those gates rushed into the darkness ahead. In the case of the vampires from Ethernalia Leonis, they had members of other races within their ranks, and they were more orderly than any other vampire that made their way here.

I sat back and watched as they moved, going through that curtain of darkness in front of us, and not looking back. I shook my shoulders, and urged Soren forward. I guess it was time we made our own move. As we drew closer and closer to the gates, the feeling of terror and danger was increased, I didn't understand why it was this way, but yet I could feel every vestibule of the eerie emotions. This place probably wasn't what we all expected it to be, and from the moment this gate was opened, it became obvious to me.

Soren walked through and into the darkness ahead, and for a few moments my body felt so cold that I almost thought I was being locked in a box with a temperature below a thousand degrees. But the cold feeling passed only a few seconds after I experienced it, and we came upon a highway. Or to be more precise, we were in a tunnel, but the tunnel itself was a highway. I could see traces of abandoned vehicles, cars, bikes, airship's, boats, even massive starships were all abandoned at different sides of the massive highway and some where even piled up high to the very top of the huge cavern like tunnel.

This was invariably a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie, but at the very least there was enough space to move around the abandoned vehicles. A whole lot of them were in various state of disrepair, some were so rusted that a single touch from any one of the vampires moving around, would turn it to dust, others seem to be a product of superior technology and magic that even after hundreds of thousands of years, they actually still worked.

To the eyes of someone else, this place was probably a trash heap of junk and forgotten memories, but to someone like Malek and even me; this was a veritable treasure trove, because there was so much that could be learnt and discovered even amongst the bones of the dead, flesh and mechanical otherwise.

Soren and I picked our way past the wrecks, paying close attention to the vampires and everything else. Based on how everything looked here, it seemed a lot of people were trying to get into Transylvania and many others were also trying to leave. There were hardly any bones left around here to show or prove the presence of a particular race amongst the wrecks. In fact there was nothing at all, just their vehicles left behind, along with their valuables. It was almost as if they all disappeared into thin air. This scenario made me think of the rapture, but it wasn't wise to jump into conclusions.

I took a close look at the cars and noticed that most of them had very old traces of being roughly handled. Claw marks littered their frame as those which withstood the test of time had their pain coat chipped in places and in ways that signified forced entry. Someone who was properly trained would have been able to notice more, but a vampire's superior senses afforded me the chance to notice more than the average person.

Of course it could be that all these signs were because the people here had ran out of their vehicles and were making haste to leave the confines of the highway, but if that was the case the signs wouldn't be as extensive. There were drag marks on the ground, dried blood stains but yet not a body to show for it. Some race's biology must have made it so that even their bones would be able to withstand the test of time, but there was no such thing here. It wad almost as if their bodies were scavenger and taken somewhere else. But if that was the case, who did this, or what?

[Alert all soldiers and citizens of Ethernalia Leonis on this exploration. This is Kael Cor,there's a possibility of something or someone, possibly hostile being alive around here. I need all of you to remain alert and vigilant and to be in teams of a dozen people or more, civilians and soldiers mixed together. We're all one family here, and it would be wise if we protected ourselves and looked out for each other. This is a secure frequency that only those with the proof of citizenship from Ethernalia Leonis can access, and since we're communicating with our minds, we can't be heard. Any thing of value found must be reported to the superior closest to you, and the superior would decide if it's necessary to announce it on this channel frequency. But if you notice or discover danger, please don't hesitate to cry wolf. Keep a sharp eye out folks and protect each other, I'll watch over you all as best as I can.]

After I gave that warning I noticed how the soldiers from Ethernalia Leonis and the civilians took my words to heart and began to group up. Not every vampire in the pit lived in Ethernalia Leonis, and while the purist had the biggest vampire settlement next to our within the white district, there were still others scattered across the green and red districts, choosing to live on their own and by their own power, away from the constrains and control of a king or a coven.Those vampires noticed my people grouping up, and though suspicious of the reason they also did the same.

I didn't care if we were misunderstood, but at the very least the level of vigilance was now a lot higher. There wasn't really much to see at this point, at least for us anyway, everything here would probably be taken care of my Malek at a later date, heck I was sure he was already sending a team of vampires to come scavenge whatever seems functional here. Soren and I picked up the pace, the highway was much to crowded for us to just breeze right through, but we moved fast enough to be able to take the lead.

Eventually we came to a stop in front of a starship that seemed to have blocked off the road. It was tall wide enough at almost 500 meters to prevent anyone from moving past it, and also equally as tall, at 6 or 700 meters to prevent us from flying over. However the most peculiar thing was the fact that a giant hole seems to have been chewed through it's middle, from one end to the other. And it's edges were not jagged as I expected, but rather smooth and worn, like it was path that was used regularly by someone of a lot of someone, or just a something.Really big something. I was about to move forward, when a team of vampires flew to my side. I looked at all five of them and realized that they were hunters, and since hunters were all females, it was quite a sight.

"My King let us scout ahead for any danger, this way we can protect and even warn you in case danger lies ahead." One of them said, probably their command as she had on a crest that denoted her authority. The fact that she has one, means she's really high up in the military hierarchy.

"Its my job to protect you, and I know you would probably argue with me over it, you're a woman after all. So in the interest of peace, and our time let's just go together. What's your name?" I asked with a smile.

"It's Hera sire." She replied with a bow.

"Well Hera please I must ask you to stay by my side and have your girls watch our backs too. Our enemies won't just be coming from ahead."

She gave a curt nod, and relayed new orders to her squad. I asked that there should be at least a dozen vampires in a single group, but from the looks of it, she was really confident about their abilities, so there was no need to partner up with more people than she was already familiar with. Plus she took the initiative to come and serve as my vanguard. Brave? Valiant? Patriotic….maybe she was, but it was obvious to me she was also ambitious. Why take a long ass time and climb the ladder of power, when you can curry favor directly from the king himself. As long as she can leave a good enough impression, there was probably a position of power in her future. I didn't mind though, ambition was good, it was a powerful motivator, as long as you didn't do anything stupid anyway.

We walked into the ship, keeping our eyes open and vigilant. I would have liked to really explore the ships interior, just to see how it was built, or if I could find something within it. But I had to keep my eyes to the front, because the moment I set foot into the ship, I could feel a presence ahead of me. It had aura that was baleful and dark, it felt alive but yet it was being of death and darkness. It was like a vampire in it's makeup, but yet completely unlike one too. And that was because I could fee that without a doubt, whatever was in front of me, was completely and totally evil!

We continued forward picking our steps and preparing ourselves. Hera and her team were armed with guns I didn't recognize, probably another one of Malek's crazy inventions, and with the way it glowed red in anticipation of the fight to come, I was sure it packed a punch and was quite lethal to whoever or whatever it was used on. But they were not just armed with guns, as each of the huntresses (that should be the correct term I guess) had unique melee weapons on them. Hera had a pair of hook swords slung over her back, one held a trident with two ends, one held a whip that reminded so much of the same while Adein used(there's no way I'm getting anywhere close to that girl), another had chakrams(seriously who used those) and finally the last girl had so many sharp knives and shurikens strapped to her body, that I felt sorry for whoever ends up dating her. The point is, they were well prepared, and so was I.

It took us twenty whole minutes to walk from one end of the ship to the other, and it was laying with it's side up. So technically we walked from top to bottom, which means the ship was not just long and wide, it was also...fat? Not sure how to describe it, the proper word to use eluded me at the moment. But the moment we came to the end of the ship and came out of the ripped hole on the other end, we were buffered by a blast of warm stinky breath. And that's when we saw it.

First there was a bridge the same size and scope as the Brooklyn bridge in new York back on earth. It was built over a massive chasm, and based on what we could hear, there was a massive river below. But we noticed or I should say we perceived on thing about that river below us, and that was the fact that it wasn't water that was flowing down there,...it was blood.

*Tssssssss* *Cracracracra* *Tssssssssss*

"My God! What is that monstrosity?" One of the girls with Hera asked.

I would call it a centipede, I mean it looked like a centipede if only a million times bigger and completely wrapped around the bridge in front of us. The sound we were hearing was of it breathing in and out, when it inhaled the chitin on it's body vibrated and rattled like the tail of a rattle snake, and when it breathed out, the chitin plates allover it's body flexed and relaxed.

It's entire body was wrapped around the bridge, and it's hundreds if not thousands of legs ended as sharpened serrated points that wouldn't just pierce a person, it would also shred like cheese on a grater. Its head was huge, I couldn't really estimate how big that thing was, and at the moment I had no idea how powerful it was or if I could even fight it.

It was like staring at the face of evil itself, and that's when I noticed two things. First this monster was releasing steady amounts of soul energy, and second, on its armored body, every time it breathed out, it wasn't it's chitin plates that were flexing, rather the faces of screaming people would appear on it, before disappearing again once it breathed in. I had no idea if this monster was a creature of necromancy or some form of soul magic, all I can say is that, it was evil and the pressure it released was so much I could hardly stand.

"Well, well what do we have here? Hehehehehe vampires? Interesting. It's has been a while, please why don't you stay for dinner?"

"Fuck!"