Chapter 24：CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR THEIR MASTER

We reach the back entry once more, but something seemed… out of place, to quiet and empty; they would not have given up that easily now, would they?

"… Did they leave?"

Good question Dylan; but the perspective sends shivers down my spine. Too easy, too good to be true.

Unsure what to do, I check the place as best as I can, until we end up in front of the exit.

"Better take our chances farther away from here." I say before we go in as I stand at the door, looking inside the darkness to check if there is any trap set down there for us, sniffing the damp air only for the rotting stench to fill my nostrils.

Pity that I didn't realize that the trap was already set… right behind us.

My only warning was a low growl that made me turn around merely to receive the full blow on my chest as the ghoul threw himself at me, attaching his body on my chest and locking his four limbs like a damn koala around my torso as another one did the same behind it, but this time the double impact made me lose my balance and fall back the exit door, flying down the set of stairs.

In the middle of the mess I'm able to attack the one attached to me, making a hole right in his chest, passing my hand between his ribs and pulling his heart and bones back, but the lack of space plus the other ghoul behind it made it a tight deadlock.

Before I could even try to stand, however, other ghouls appeared at the entryway, and at the same time that I heard gunshots from above I was dragged down by many ghouls, hitting the stairs and walls as the creatures blurred and drag me down quickly and not stopping.

With one hand stuck inside the ribcage and the other between our bodies I hiss in anger, kicking the air pointlessly.

Fuck fuck fuck!

The moment we reach the end of the stairs they let me go at the same moment I prompt myself on my feet, the ghoul I attacked flopping down on the ground as the others surrounded me.

I hiss at them, my red eyes shining in the total darkness of the rails, but one look closer shows me quickly that the darkness was pinpointed with many white dots.

Ghouls.

Many, many ghouls, all around me, surrounding me at all fours, snarling and staying between me and the exit. I take my sword out, snarling back, my blood running cold as I hear another set of shots coming from upstairs.

How the fuck they were able to trap us like this?

No matter though, I just need to kill them, I thought as I take a step forward, making them swarm around the exit, not backing off. Bloody cockroaches. Strange thing was, however, that they did not attack me, not until I tried to pass by them.

Worse than that, however, was when the shots stopped, and the silence prevailed.

That's when I attacked, running straight up, blade at the front with my hands high, circling the sharp metal in the air to encounter the first that jumped up at me, cutting the creature in half and bathing me in blood, the others coming from all sides as I sidestep the closest one, bringing the blade up and slicing his face in haft.

I jump back, closer to the exit and making the others miss as I turn, already bringing the blade up, the tip scratching the floor and making sparkles fly up in the dark place, the silver blade almost invisible as it cut pieces of flesh and bones, corpses piling up but still their number did not reduce.

I was forced back when they, like coordinated soldiers, attacked at my front all at once, six of them, three jumping up and three covering the ground. Falling back and bringing dust up while moving my legs apart in a fighting position, I look at the creatures once more, filling the ground and walls with their bodies, snarling with drool dripping down their chins passing their rotten teeth, their white eyes staring me down.

There were just too many, I think as I clench my teeth and harden the grip on my sword. Fuck, fuck this, I will pass them even if they rip me to shreds, even if I have to carry my humans while limping, but if I stay down here for too long it may be too late for even that.

The mere possibility scared me to the bone, making a panic attack want to surface from my core, wanting to freeze me in place and making me unable to react.

I clench my jaw harder, tasting my own blood in my mouth.

Once I was resolute I would not stop runnig even if I had to carry those creatures on my back, staying in position, suddenly they were silent, and eerie sudden silence, almost as if they were hearing something I could not, their bulging eyes staring me down all the time.

Then they step back, opening a path towards the set of stairs.

That was even worst then having to fight them all, dread making me grimace at the possibilities, but I held my thoughts back and simply sprinted pass them, almost literally flying the set of stairs up.

I never climbed upstairs so fast in my life, almost missing the steps several times after jumping four or five of them at once.

But once I reached the top I froze, petrified with the image, not knowing what was worst; the bloody Richard laying on the ground, or the man, no, the vampire that was holding Dylan towards him.

His hand was placed almost caring on Dylan's shoulder who stood in front of him, looking at the ground with a blank expression. Seeing me eyeing Dylan, the hand started stroking his neck and shoulder, back and forth, the slightest touch of the tip of the fingers.

But the message was very clear.

He could snap his neck faster than I could stop him.

"Saguine… what are you doing here?"

His permanent bloody red eyes looked at me with fondness yet an eerie glint shinning on them while a smirk curved his lips.

"After all this year's that's the first thing you say to me? How about "master I missed you so much! I could not be happier right now!" I grimace at that, knowing he was making fun of me.

"As if! You still have the balls to say such a thing after all you have done to me?!"

He opens his mouth slightly, walking closer to me and bringing Dylan as a puppet with him, his ghouls staying at bay on the sidelines.

As always he kept his appearance in top notch; and not even the apocalypse could change that. A fedora hat sat on top of his black hair, leading to his sharp eyes and a well-trimmed beard. He had a red jacket with details in gold beneath an overcoat, completing with black scaly shoes and black leather gloves holding a wooden cane.

"Oh, so bitter, I only remember me giving you the gift of eternal life."

"You got me locked in here!" At that he becames mad, the calm façade crumbling down in a very scary scowl.

"I was trying to teach you!" The anger in his eyes made me scare that he would mistakenly force his hand on Dylan and choke him by mistake, but it would be worse if I let my fears transparent for him.

"Teach me? Teach me?! I was constantly tortured here! Caged like a fucking animal! I-I thought you just wanted to get rid of me! You just abandon me there to die!"

"It seems that you did not learn anything at all then…" He said, a sad and hurt look on his face as his gaze turns towards Dylan, making me froze in shock.

"You are still so… attached to these creatures, so attached to what you used to be… But you must know by now what they are capable of, what they do to creatures like us, and still you want to protect them?"

"I…I don't know what I feel about humans anymore." I frankly say, knowing it was pointless to lie to him, but not wanting him to know how much these humans affected me. He would kill them in the blink of an eye. "But I know for sure that you betrayed me, betrayed my trust, you sold me out, your… your own son!"

We were not related in humans ways, but shared the same blood in this immortal life. Master, father, there were many ways that this creator/creation relationship went, but all were very deep and intimate.

I could smell Richard blood spilling more and more out of him, making me worry sick for him. Please, be alive, please do not die on me now.

"Sammy…" He puts Dylan to the side, my relief being short as a ghoul attach his bony hands over his throat as Saguine comes closer and hugs me tightly.

I would love to hate him truly and as deeply as I should, but he always had held some sort of control over me, enough that I still found comfort on his embrace and his musky smell, a nostalgic feeling, almost like coming back home.

"Oh, I did not, and would never, ever betray you, I was careful to choose a place where they did not kill their subjects, and I was the one who cut the power and freed you, but once I arrived at your cell you weren't there anymore…

I'm sorry. I'm very, very sorry that things ended up this way, but you need to understand that it was all for your own good."

His words brought me back from the comfort I felt on his embrace, making me hold a hiss back. I was hugging him back, my head on his shoulder, my eyes over Dylan, knowing that he could see and hear everything, and wondering that he must be thinking right now, unable to move, paralyzed.

Not good things I assure you.

"I miss you… "He says, hugging me harder, as I do the same.

"I missed you too…" He gasps, surprised, probably thinking he was forgiven, but I continue: "Pity that you had to fuck things up between us."

I say before I bite down hard on his shoulder.