Oliver drove the transit van off the ferry and joined the line of cars waiting to get through the English border control. Whistling to himself, he waited while he moved towards the front of the queue, his excitement at the adventure ahead barely held in check.
Finally, a figure in uniform tapped on his driver’s door window. Oliver pressed the button to open it and handed over his passport with a wide grin.
“What’s in the back of the van?” The officer asked as he glanced at his watch.
“Just a vampire in his coffin, with an assortment of swords and other possessions befitting an evil creature of the night.” Oliver said; the grin still on his face. For the first time, the officer looked up at Oliver’s smiling face.
“Why did I ask, what else would be in a white van from Transylvania?” The officer stood back and gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Just as he was about to speak, a second officer walked up behind him.
“Come on Pete, shift’s over unless you want overtime.” The officer identified as ‘Pete’ gave a little grunt at Oliver before he turned around.
“You don’t need to tell me twice. This guy has a vampire in the back, he’s all yours.” With that, Pete walked off, leaving his colleague looking at a grinning Oliver.
“Well it’s not every day you start your shift with a vampire smuggler.” He said, returning Oliver’s grin. He indicated with a wave of his arm that Oliver should drive on. “Enjoy your stay, now move on Van Helsing.”
As evening turned to night, Oliver parked the van just down the street from the address he had been given. He looked up and down the street as small groups of people walked from door to door, usually comprising an adult and a couple of children. “Eloim these English people are very strange, they dress their little ones up as monsters.” Oliver said.
Eloim peeked his head through the curtain that separated the rear of the van from the cab. “It’s Halloween today, they walk around trying to get sweeties from the houses or something,” Eloim explained. “Do we wait till they’ve all gone do you think?”
“Look over there, that kid’s dressed as a werewolf! That is so cool,” Oliver said excitedly, pointing to a small child. “Let’s go say hi to him. Look, there’s a zombie with him too and the adult is dressed as a vampire.”
“That is the worst vampire outfit I’ve ever seen.” Eloim said in disgust.
“I can’t believe that’s true, you really should look in a mirror more often before you judge,” Oliver said. He was still grinning as he opened the door to get out of the van. “Come on, this looks fun.”
Grumbling, Eloim slid open the side door on the van and climbed out. “Let’s just find the house and get off the street. This whole thing is horrendous, humans dressing as us is just wrong.”
“Stop being a grump, this is great. We’re in a strange land and in the middle of a great adventure,” Oliver said, looking around as the group of kids approached. The adult brought up the rear. “You kids look amazing,” he said to them.
“Sod off freak!” A child of about six years old, dressed as a werewolf said. Then she ran up and kicked Oliver on the shin. The adult moved forward quickly and stood between the child and Oliver.
“You heard her, freak. Now do one before I knock your lights out,” he snarled.
Oliver took a step back, bewildered. Eloim took a step forward and grabbed the adult, spinning him around to face him. “Try it and I’ll rip your throat out and then that brat’s too.” Eloim hissed; his fangs clearly visible to the adult.
The colour drained from the man’s face and he took a step back and grabbed the girl’s arm. “It’s home time, come on Lambrini,” he stammered and dragged the protesting children away.
“Well that little girl may have bad manners, but what a beautiful name. I wonder how they thought of it?” Oliver said still rubbing his shin.
“Who cares, now come on and let’s find this bloody house,” Eloim said, wondering how someone with the build of a weight lifter could be such a wimp.
Eloim knocked on the door before turning to Oliver. He shrugged when there was no answer.
“Are you sure this is the right house?” Eloim asked. “It doesn’t look like somewhere one of my kind would live.”
“It’s the address Karla put into the route planner on the van,” Oliver replied defensively. “Maybe she’s not in.”
Just then, they heard a bolt being drawn back and the door opened a fraction.
“When you come in, you stand on the plastic sheet while you remove your shoes and put on the slippers,” a voice said.
Eloim looked at Oliver who shrugged before turning back to the door and pushing it open. At the end of the hallway, a woman stood watching as they walked in, a scowl on her face. Oliver closed the door behind him and then slipped off his shoes and accepted the slippers Eloim passed over to him.
“Now use the hand sanitizer on the wall and come through. Please don’t touch anything unless you have to.” The woman said and then turned and walked through a doorway, out of sight.
“Did Karla mention she was sending us to see a nutter?” Oliver whispered.
Eloim shrugged. “You know as much as I do,” he said, rubbing the hand sanitizer into his hands.
“This smells nice though.” “Lavender,” Oliver said. “With a hint of Ylang Ylang. Now come on, let’s go talk to the mad lady.”
They set off down the hallway and walked through the doorway into a dining room. The woman was sitting at a table, looking anything but happy to see them.
“This mad lady also has very good hearing, dog boy,” she said. “My name is Miss Lynne to you two and you will follow my rules while I have to put up with you.”
Eloim and Oliver looked down at their feet as Lynne asserted the immediate authority of a school mistress.
“Now as Eloim and myself spend much of the day sleeping, I will put Eloim in the box room upstairs,” Lynne began. “You, Oliver isn’t it?”
Oliver nodded, still inspecting his feet.
“Right, Oliver, you will have to sleep down here in the living room, I have put out bedding on the sofa.” Lynne informed them in a no nonsense manner. “I keep a clean and tidy house and you will both respect that. The use of hand sanitizers and removal of outdoor footwear for indoor slippers in not up for debate, neither is you turning all hairy and animal like within the house Oliver. I keep a clean and germ free house and that will not change while you are here. Now we have my rules out of the way, do you have any questions?” Lynne took their silence as agreement and continued. “Good, I don’t like house guests, so let’s get down to why you are here.”
Lynne sat back in the chair and looked over at Eloim. He sat at the dining room table fidgeting; he looked uncomfortable in the dark hooded top. She felt a little disappointed at the sight of him. She had expected someone far more flamboyant. Oliver sat next to him, carefully inspecting the grain of the wooden table top. Eloim had quickly explained events that had led up to them turning up on her doorstep with Oliver adding a comment here and there.
She had heard of the destruction of the cathedral and of vampires helping to stop a revolt in Transylvania but hearing the story first hand was hard to believe. How could this teenage vampire have killed a Vatican hunter and survived two encounters with one of the most powerful demons known? Lynne considered what he now requested, for a way into the demon realms to rescue his sister.
“Do you realise what you are asking? Passing between the realms is difficult and there are rules that cannot be broken. Do you even know the basics of opening a portal?” she asked. “And opening a portal to that realm is far from basic.”
“You draw a pattern on the floor; mumble a few words and you need some blood.” Eloim replied, shrugging.
“Well it’s a little more complex than that, it takes great power, that is why royal blood is so often used. Summoning a demon is not too difficult, the more powerful the creature you summon the more power it takes. Sometimes an artefact is also used to act as an anchor for the spell in our realm too, such as a stone altar. For a lesser demon such as the succubus, a human sacrifice and altar will work, but for a powerful demon such as this Alexia, it needs potent, royal blood, an altar and a powerful artefact, possibly a gemstone of rare quality so you can hold control of the demon in this realm. As for passing the other way into the demon realm, well no one has ever been stupid enough to want to. You drag a demon into this realm when you summon them; it’s not like opening a door, more like sucking the demon through a wall. I’ve got no idea what we will need to get you through.”
“There has to be a way I can get Polly back. The demons took her into their realm; they had a spell that worked.” Eloim whispered slumping back into his seat.
“The demon lore is far in advance of anything we know, but there may be a way,” Lynne began. “In ancient legends it is said there was a gateway from one of the astral planes into the demon realm. Getting to the astral planes is difficult, but something that can be done in your physical form. I need to look though some of my older grimoires so don’t give up hope for your sister just yet,” Lynne said with a reassuring smile. “Follow me Eloim, the night is almost over. Before we turn in, just let me show you what it is I do and why your sister Karla sent you to seek my advice. Oliver, there is a television in the front room, why don’t you see if anything is on if you are not ready to sleep yet.”
Eloim followed Lynne up the stairs and into a room. It was neat and ordered, with shelves full of items in wooden boxes and large jars.
“What is all this?” Eloim asked as he walked over to inspect a shelf full of ornate wooden boxes.
“I am a solitary vampire and don’t have the benefit of extensive investments so I have to earn a living. This is my source of income. I sell magical items to those who can afford them, be they supernatural or human.” Lynne indicated the box that Eloim rested his hand on. “In there is a charm, not really powerful but it can influence humans to believe whoever wears it.”
“Why not just compel the person?” Eloim asked.
“It is a popular item for humans who want to enter politics; they don’t have the ability to compel like we do. It’s a really good selling object as it works so well for humans who buy one. How do you think the present Prime minister of this country got elected?”
Eloim shrugged. “Never really thought about humans having politics and leaders, beyond food and fashion they are of no interest to me.”
“You should not dismiss them so. If they ever united, they would destroy our kind very quickly. They are a future enemy so you should learn about them,” Lynne said, walking further into the room.
Eloim opened a different box and picked up a delicate ring that lay within. “This is pretty, what is it?”
“Be careful with that, it is a very powerful love ring made by the Faye. It is the ring of Helen of Troy. When someone wears it, the first person they see will fall under its spell, even if they are creatures of great power.” Lynne turned back around and went to stand before a large bookcase full of large leather-bound books. Eloim shrugged and unseen by Lynne, slipped the ring into his pocket before closing the box lid. It would make a great item to use as an accessory for some of his outfits.
“Do you read Vedic Sanskrit, Eloim? I remember reading a text which mentioned an older scroll that may give us clues to get back your sister.”
“Never heard of it, I tend to avoid my studies on ancient lore and all that history stuff when I can.” Eloim replied absently and continued to look around the room.
Lynne turned around to look at him, her expression unreadable. “It will soon be morning, there is a coffin in the next room and you should get some sleep. Don’t worry about the magic circle on the floor, it’s the room I usually use for doing my spells and I didn’t have time to clean it properly before you arrived. I will be spending the next few hours trying to find where I read mention of this scroll, so go get some rest, I’ll speak to you tonight.
Thanks for reading, upvotes, comments and resteems are welcome.
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part 1? It's here : @alienbutt/the-demon-the-witch-and-a-teenage-vampire-vampire-eloim-book-3
part 2 here: @alienbutt/the-demon-the-witch-and-a-teenage-vampire-vampire-eloim-book-3-part-2
part 3: @alienbutt/zgpms-the-demon-the-witch-and-a-teenage-vampire-vampire-eloim-book-3-part-2
Part 4: @alienbutt/the-demon-the-witch-and-a-teenage-vampire-vampire-eloim-book-3-part-4
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