D-77

Chapter 13

Vlad did not allow Danny to relax for long. As soon as she settled on the stones as comfortably as it was possible, the vampire sat down next to her and squeezed her shoulders in his hands. His first attempt at getting Sanders upright was unsuccessful - she shook her head and lay back down the moment he let go of her shoulders.

"Love…"

"Leave me alone for a while." She covered her eyes with her hand and sighed heavily. "Too many experiences in one night."

She felt a light kiss on her lips.

"The night has just begun, my dear Danny," he helped her sit up, holding her by the shoulders.

"Don't threaten me." She rested her head wearily on his shoulder. “My heart can't take another shock. Magic birds, mythical snakes, mermaids... Who is waiting for us in the cave? Leprechaun? Wendigo?”

The vampire smiled and patted her back. “There, there, love, you're doing great. If you're tired, I can carry you."

Danny shook her head. "No, I'm able to walk a little more." She looked Vlad in the eyes. “You don’t plan to drag me around the cave all day, do you?”

He smiled and rose to his feet, holding out his hand to her. She placed her hand in his broad palm and stood up. They began to slowly move along the walls of the cave. The vampire's free hand carefully felt the protruding stones, as if trying to find something. Danny suspected that there was a hidden mechanism behind one of the stones that would open some secret passage for them. She was very surprised when Vlad's hand suddenly passed through the stone, and he fell through the wall, losing his balance. Sanders fell after him.

She landed on his chest. They were lying in the middle of a spacious passage lit by many crystals. She slid down from his body and looked around, sitting on her knees. The cave was incredibly beautiful. Danny had never seen anything like it before, not even in pictures on the internet or in books. The ceiling and walls of the cave were strewn with multicolored crystals of various shapes and sizes. They were glowing and illuminating the passage almost brighter than the noonday sun.

“I dare to assume that the decoration of the cave gave you strength for further walks.” Vlad got up heavily and dusted off his pants in a businesslike manner.

Nodding curtly, she got to her feet and was surprised to find that her clothes and hair were completely dry. She turned to Vlad and even opened her mouth to ask him about it, but at the last second, she realized what his answer would be. "It's not a trick, but a complex, multi-stage spell created by Stain" or something like that.

They joined hands and headed deeper into the cave.

They wandered through the underground passage for several hours. Danny was very tired, but she did her best not to start whining. She did not want Vlad to start thinking that she was capricious and weak. The muscles of her legs were aching, she felt a throbbing pain in her feet, and her lower back ached mercilessly. But she stubbornly continued to walk forward, gritting her teeth and praying for this torturous hike to be over. But the tunnels seemed to be endless. A new passage opened at every turn, and another one was after the next one, and so on, and on...

When she was ready to give up and ask Vlad to give her a little time to rest, he suddenly stopped. "Yes!" she thought, "We made it!"

She walked around the vampire to see what caused them to wander around the cave for several hours with her own eyes but did not see anything. It was a dead end. Danny mentally groaned, deciding that Vlad had forgotten the way and they had been lost. She turned to face him and found that he was looking at her intently as if trying to guess her thoughts. His sly smile hinted that she was wrong, and there was no dead-end there. She realized that there was another passage somewhere nearby, carefully hidden from strangers. She began to turn her head in all directions and feel the walls in search of a secret door, but she could not find it. Danny looked inquiringly at the vampire, her eyes demanding to show her the passage. Vlad pointed. Looking in the indicated direction, she saw a hole under the ceiling. The hole was small, and, judging by its size, one would have to move through it on all fours.

Sanders shook her head and looked at him with wide eyes. "No!"

"Danny..."

“Vlad, no! I won't go there! I can’t even get up there! ” she squealed hysterically, stamping her foot and pointing her finger in the direction of the passage.

"Calm down, love," the vampire's arms wrapped around her waist and pressed her against his chest in one sharp movement. "I'll help you climb up there, you don't have to worry about that."

"Why can't you just teleport us to the right room?" Vlad didn't even have time to open his mouth when she said, "Let me guess, there's a super-complex spell cast on the cave that blocks your superpowers?"

"You're a fast learner, love." His palms gently stroked her back, focusing on her aching lower back. "Don’t be so stubborn, dear, we have a tiny distance left to overcome, in comparison with what we have already traveled."

"Vlad, I'm tired. I want to eat, and I also need to use the bathroom. Maybe you can go to the secret room yourself, and I'll wait for you here?” she put her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes, batting her eyelashes sweetly.

"No, Danny, I'll need your help, so you'll have to climb." Leaning down to her very face, he froze a millimeter from her lips. "If you stop whining and agree to climb into the passage, I will kiss you."

“Darling, if you tell me right now that I don’t have to go anywhere, I will kiss you.”

The vampire grabbed her by the hips, forcing Danny to wrap her legs around his waist, and in two steps they were against the wall. She felt the crystals pressed into her back through her clothes, causing slight discomfort.

Vlad's lips froze dangerously close to hers, with each exhalation their breaths mingled into one, scorching their skin. Sanders impatiently licked her own lips and reached out to kiss him, but the vampire evaded her kiss. The sly gleam in his eyes revealed his intentions in a second.

Danny snorted in annoyance and leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms over her chest. After all, she was not capricious, she was really tired, and the call of nature was making itself felt more and more insistently. She was well aware that the likelihood that an immortal sorcerer and no less immortal vampire attended to such a trifle as supplying an enchanted cave with a dry closet and a washbasin was negligible. But her body did not turn off some of the functions of its vital activity because of this.

Vlad was waiting for her consent to continue the journey, tilting his head slightly to one side. He didn't want to use hypnosis, and he didn't want to argue with her either. He hoped to cover this insignificant distance as soon as possible. He silently carried her to the hole and set her on the ground. Just as silently, he stood with his back to the wall, legs wide apart, and clasped his hands in the lock.

Sanders pursed her lips in annoyance, but resigned herself to her fate and did not argue with the vampire. She stepped with one foot on his clasped fingers, and with the other she stood on his shoulder, clutching at the protruding crystals with her hands. She wanted to “accidentally” step on his head, but decided not to do it yet. When both her feet were on Vlad's shoulders, she tried to reach the hole, but she could barely reach it with her fingertips.

"Too high" she bit her bottom lip, "I'll try to stand on the crystal..."

"Don’t!" Vlad's voice echoed through the cave. "The crystals will not hold, and you will fall."

"Are you implying that I'm fat?" Danny narrowed her eyes and looked down at the top of the vampire's head. I wanted to step on it more and more.

"Honey, you're perfect, but those crystals are pretty fragile." He raised his hands and turned them palms up. "Get on my hands."

"Um, that doesn't seem like a safe option to me..."

"Trust me, love," his voice dropped to an insinuating whisper, but Danny heard it and felt it with every fiber of her skin, "I won't let you fall."

She swallowed and obeyed. At first, it seemed that Vlad would not hold her, and she would definitely collapse on the stone floor of the cave, but almost immediately she realized that she was mistaken. The vampire held her tightly. His strong arms readily took the load, and once he was sure Sanders was firmly in his palms, he raised his hands higher, allowing her to get to the aisle with little effort.

Once in a narrow hole, Danny realized that she had overestimated the size of the hole through which she had to crawl. She was confident that she would be able to calmly move around on all fours, but in fact, she had to crawl while lying on her stomach. Cursing under her breath, she lay on her belly and crawled forward, resting her elbows on the stone. Soon she heard a rustle behind and realized that Vlad had also climbed into the hole and was crawling behind her. There was only blackness ahead, which irritated and frightened Danny at the same time. But she was silent, puffing and pursing her lips, and endlessly promised herself that she would never again poke her head into any other cave that exists on Earth.

She didn't know how long they had been crawling. Her hands ached, her face was flushed and sweaty from the efforts she made, and some functions of her body reminded her of themselves more and more insistently. Just when it seemed to her that the f*****g passage would be endless, a light loomed up ahead. At first, she thought she was imagining it, but after blinking a couple of times, she realized that there really was something glowing ahead. It gave her some strength and she began to move forward a little faster.

As Danny climbed out of the passage, she was momentarily blinded by the glow of the crystals. Blinking, she wiped the tears running down her cheeks with a dusty sleeve and looked around. She found herself in a spacious room with high ceilings. The walls were strewn with crystals, as was the case throughout the cave. An enormous stalactite hung from the ceiling, touching with its sharp tip some stone object in the middle of the room.

Danny decided to take the opportunity to stretch her legs and examine the strange structure at the same time. Stepping closer, she saw a small indentation just below where the sharp tip of the stalactite had looked, and thin lines spread out in all directions from it, like rivers flowing over the earth. She leaned closer and suddenly saw that the lines formed the outline of a hand. Danny swallowed and quickly scanned the stone surface. She recoiled in fright from the structure and slammed her back into the chest of Vlad standing behind her. Turning sharply, she backed away from the vampire.

"Where did you take me?" she wanted to shout at him, but her voice did not obey, so only a quiet whisper with notes of hysteria flew from her lips.

"Danny, calm down, dear," he stepped closer to her and took her hand. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arm around her waist before she could jump away from him.

"What kind of place is it?" she put her hands on his chest, trying to push him away from her, but Vlad did not allow her to do this. "Who is that?"

"It's Stain, dear," the vampire replied calmly. He let go of her hand and caressed her cheek with his knuckles. "We're here to wake him up from his sleep."

She glanced sideways at the stone sarcophagus and for some reason shuddered.

Feeling her tremble, the vampire hugged her tighter and touched his forehead to her forehead. “You don’t need to be afraid, my dear Danny. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you." His lips brushed gently over the tip of her nose. "You trust me, don't you?"

Closing her eyes, she nodded. She had no idea what kind of ritual they were about to perform, but something told her that they would not get off with a simple tap on the stone lid of the sarcophagus. And it scared her. Vlad's hand disappeared from her waist, and Danny felt his cold fingers entwined with hers. Opening her eyes, she met his worried gaze.

"Vlad..."

"I'm sorry, love," he brought her hand up to his face and pressed his lips against her skin. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Danny touched his face with her fingertips. “I'm not afraid of you, dear. What scares me is the awakening of your friend. I don’t even know how it will go… You said that you would need my help for this…”

"First, I'll take care of you, my dear Danny." The vampire took a couple of steps away from the sarcophagus without letting go of her hand. "Stain slept for more than twenty years, a couple more hours won't change the weather for him."

He led her to a spiral staircase going down. Somehow she did not see it when examining the premises for some reason. Continuing to hold her hand, Vlad slowly went downstairs. Sanders was stunned when she saw that there was a small living area under the tomb. There was an old mattress, a washbasin, a simple toilet, a mirror, a table, and two chairs. She looked around the room in surprise. She certainly didn’t expect to see a toilet in a cave.

Vlad let go of her hand and walked over to the washbasin to check it out. After confirming that the taps were running clean, he turned to Danny. "I'll be waiting for you upstairs."

The vampire hurried away. She was grateful for that.

After eating a sandwich and washing up, Sanders returned to the sarcophagus. While she was gone, Vlad managed to prepare everything necessary for the ritual, and now he stood with his hands on the stone lid of the coffin and whispered something. “It's like he's praying,” Danny thought as she cautiously stepped closer. As if sensing her presence, the vampire turned around.

"I thought you might want to get some rest." His blue eyes scanned her body and face, assessing if she had enough strength to awaken Stain.

"If you're not planning to force me to crawl all over the cave on all fours, I think I can handle it." Even though Danny had said so, her fingers trembled with anxiety. She hurriedly put her hands in her pockets, it did not escape Vlad's attention.

 Coming close to her, he cupped her cheeks and kissed her forehead gently. "If you're really ready, we can start right away."

Danny nodded. She was scared, but she decided that the sooner they started, the sooner everything would end. And, to be honest, she was insanely curious to see the ritual of awakening an immortal. She was sure that she had never seen anything like it, even in films, and, moreover, she could not imagine she would ever witness something so magical.

The vampire led her to the wall, where Danny was surprised to find a small niche. There was a stone with a palm print on it. The whole print was strewn with spikes sticking up, and a small depression led down from it, similar to what she had seen on the sarcophagus. She carefully touched one of the spikes with her finger and cursed, jerking her hand away. The asshole turned out to be very sharp, and a drop of blood immediately appeared on the tip of her finger. Vlad intercepted her hand and pressed his lips to the tiny wound, licking off an insignificant amount of crimson liquid.

Feeling her cheeks blush, Danny cleared her throat and hurriedly turned away from the vampire.

Finally licking her finger, Vlad covered her hand with his own and brought it closer to the stone. “The blood of three non-human beings is needed to awaken Stain. Each of them should lower their palm on the stone and allow the spikes to pierce the skin. Don’t be scared, dear, the ritual doesn’t need much blood."

"Am I not human?"

“Partly, Danny. You must be tired of hearing this, but you have the blood of the Inquisitor…”

“Oh, don’t worry, dear, I just heard it a few dozen times over the past day. Why would I be tired of this?”

“… and your Gift began to awaken. It makes you non-human."

"So you only need me for my blood." Danny jokingly nudged him with her shoulder and smiled, trying to hide her emotions. "I knew it."

“I'm afraid that your blood will not be enough for me, love,” Vlad leaned over a little and whispered, touching her ear with his lips, “I need you all, Danny. I want your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. I want all of you." Gently kissing her temples, he took her chin in his fingers and looked into her brown eyes. "I'm asking too much, aren't I?"

Sanders touched his arm and shook her head, “No. But if you continue to pour such sweet words into my ears, I will forget about your damn ritual, strip down to be butt-naked, and demand that you f**k me right here, on the coffin, where your friend is sleeping.”

Vlad blinked stupidly a couple of times, digesting the information he had just received. He threw his head back and laughed heartily. After calming down a little, he kissed Danny on the lips and whispered, "Hate to upset you, love, but I would have to say ‘no’ to that."

"Who said I'd let you?" She moved closer to his ear and whispered, "I can be very persuasive." saying this, she kissed the vampire right on the ear, which made him deaf for a second.

They both fooled around a bit more, and when Danny felt the tension and fear finally subside, she looked at Vlad with all the seriousness she could muster.

"Shall we start?"

"Wait," her palm froze a couple of millimeters above the spikes. “You said you needed the blood of three creatures. But there are two of us...”

Smiling with the corners of his lips, he took out a small vial of dark liquid from his jacket pocket.

“Whose is it?” Danny asked softly.

“It doesn't matter, love,” the vampire looked at the vial with sadness in his eyes and moved to the other wall.

Sanders bit the inside of her cheek. Somehow she knew that the blood belonged to Dumitru and, most likely, he offered it to Vlad himself so that his master could perform the ritual and awaken his friend before he asked the vampire to end his suffering.

Approaching the second niche, Vlad poured blood from the vial onto the palm print and incredibly quickly moved to the third stone. Placing his hand on the right spot, he nodded to Danny, and she bit her lip as she rested her hand on the sharp spikes. With a short sob, she pressed her hand harder against the imprint on the stone and lowered her gaze to the trickle of blood thumping down. As soon as the crimson liquid descended down the stone, a bright blue glow began to emanate from the niche. Danny turned to Vlad and saw that the walls around his niche glowed just as brightly. But his gaze faded.

Following his gaze, she saw that the second niche, the one containing Dumitru's blood, did not emit the same bright glow. And even despite the lack of proper knowledge, she realized that something had gone wrong. Apparently, due to the fact that there were two of them, and the blood of the third creature was from a test tube, the ritual could not take place. It needed the presence of a third being.

Before Danny could speak her mind, the vampire rushed to the dark niche and slammed his fist against the stone wall next to it with all his might. She ran up to him, afraid that Vlad would destroy the whole cave in anger. Embracing him from behind, she made an attempt to pull him away, but instead of doing so, he began to settle on the stone crumbs scattered on the floor. Looking into his face, Danny saw his eyes reddening from tears and the trembling lips of a vampire. She embraced him impulsively, unconsciously smearing her own blood down his neck.

She opened her mouth to console him, but she couldn't find the words. And when his arms were wrapped around her body, and his face, wet from tears, was hidden in the crook of her neck, she realized that the last thing he needed now was her words. Vlad sobbed loudly, pressing her to him so close that she could not take a full breath of air.

All his plans and hopes were destroyed in a second. He failed to awaken his friend, his only longtime ally who could stand shoulder to shoulder in his fight against Radu. And how did he not guess that the presence of three beings is obligatory?! He was overwhelmed by a wave of despair, and for that second, he had no idea what to do to fix the current situation.

Danny whispered something into his ear, but he couldn't make out a single word. His eyes seemed to be covered with a red veil, and a terrible hunger that had been dormant for a long time woke up somewhere inside of him. Before he realized what he was doing, his fangs dug into her neck, his hands squeezed her body tightly. She didn't resist, just placed her bloodied hand on the back of his head, letting him try to console himself in that way. Her wounds healed long before he had time to take a good sip of her blood, so he bit through the skin, again and again, wanting to get to the coveted liquid.

Suddenly, Vlad felt a hard grip on his shoulder, and someone threw his body against the wall. For a moment, the vampire was taken aback. He could not orient himself and fight back against the one who attacked him. Once he was on the floor, he shook his head and tried to get up. Danny immediately ran up to him and held him by the elbow, helping him up. With a vicious growl, Vlad straightened up and looked into the eyes of the one who managed to break through all the barriers created by Stain to protect the cave and froze in surprise.

"Ah-Puch..."