Evan stood staring at the middle aged man with thick black hair and cold blue eyes that claimed to have the solution to their problem.
“So you’re saying you can help us with Upir?” He asked .
“I can,” The Guardian replied calmly, then reading the unspoken question in his eyes, quickly added, “we would have to destroy Upir’s soul to replace Agnes’.”
“But that will balance nothing!” Evan snapped, that was exactly the same mistake Lucy and Kenneth had made with Agnes!
“Well we would have to sacri… err.. well one cannot really do without these sacrifices when it comes to these things.” The Guardian stuttered.
Evan almost lost his temper, it was always about sacrifices!
“So who are you going to sacrifice now?” He asked between clenched teeth.
“We’ll get to that part later,” The Guardian evaded, “for now we must get your friends fast. Upir is planning to do worse.”
“Who are you going to sacrifice?” Evan repeated, picking his words one by one.
“We’ll leave that to later.” The Guardian said again, also taking his words one by one.
Evan was about to say something else when he saw Kenneth walk up to them. Kenneth had gotten somewhat worried since Evan had not returned yet so he had come in search of him. Normally, nonchalant Kenneth wouldn’t have moved a muscle but he felt like he had to make up for almost sacrificing Agnes so he had come.
“Hello.” Kenneth greeted The Guardian.
“He’s from the abyssal realm.” Was all Evan managed to say. The thought of another sacrifice had sent his mind spinning.
Kenneth stood there gaping at the man.
The Guardian had to repeat everything he had said to Evan. He didn’t include the sacrifice part though, as he had seen how it had scared Evan.
“But there would still be an imbalance,” Kenneth said.
The Guardian groaned inwardly. That was the problem with these vampires, he thought, they made sure they found out a secret or a hidden information and then they ran when it became too much for them. Did they have to know everything?
“We have our ways of solving that problem in the abyss.” The Guardian evaded.
Evan could see that The Guardian was skipping the sacrifice part but he was not going to say it either. Kenneth and Nella had tried to sacrifice Agnes, only that it didn’t work. What would stop them from sacrificing him if they knew there had to be a sacrifice?
No he would not tell them, he would play along carefully and make sure he came out of all this madness alive.
“You had better get your witch friend.” The Guardian said.
“Why?” Kenneth asked. He was not really sure if they could trust this so called guardian, “and how can we be sure you are not working for Upir?”
“If I was working for Upir I would have killed you,” The Guardian said cooly, “besides, the three of you pose no threat to Upir now, so why would she send me here?”
Kenneth appeared unconvinced.
The Guardian groaned inwardly again, vampires did not trust even their own reflections.
“Get your friend so I can prove it to all of you at once.” The Guardian said, he was nearing the limits of his patience.
“She can’t come out now,” Kenneth said quickly. When he passed by her room, he heard her making a phone call probably to her brother and crying afterwards. She was in no state of mind to handle this new affair with the guardian.
“Fine then.” The Guardian said and raised his hand in the air. The walls seemed to wobble and melt. They soon disappeared as did the cheap carpet under their feet ;they all gave way.
Soon they were standing outside, under the full moon.
The motel was nowhere to be seen.
Kenneth and Evan we’re startled.
“Where is the motel?” Kenneth asked, looking around and seeing only his car parked a few feet from them.
“It was an illusion,” The Guardian replied, “I created it because there was no motel close by and I needed to talk to the three of you.”
“You could have just followed us to a real motel!” Evan said, still reeling over the shock.
“As I said, there was no other motel close by, ” The Guardian replied, “and anything could have happened to you along the way.”
“But anyone can cast an illusion,” Kenneth said, remembering that he had seen a young witch cast a similar illusion before.
“I doubt if ‘anyone’ can so do this,” The Guardian said and started muttering an incantation. Instantly, the atmosphere became tense, as if they were breathlessly waiting for something, whatever that ‘something’ was.
The Guardian continued his incantation as the two vampires looked on, thier senses seemed to blur for a moment and then heighten almost immediately. It was like a trance.
Kenneth saw Nella grope her way towards them, she stopped just paces away from the three of them. He wondered why she stopped and why she was groping about like that. Could she not see?
Suddenly a large red portal appeared in front of the guardian.
Anguished screams could be heard as well as sounds that seemed like a mixture of a strange language and the noise of strange animals.
The portal grew larger and larger (as did the open mouths of the onlooking vampires). Soon they were looking into what looked like a pit, a very deep pit with scream upon scream coming out of it.
The screams were so awful that the vampires had to cover their ears and beg The Guardian to close the portal.
“That is the abyssal realm!” The Guardian shouted a little above the noise of the screams.
“We believe you!”cried Evan, “Make it stop!”
The Guardian muttered another string of incantations and the portal closed suddenly, taking with it the awful screams.
They all sighed in relief and Nella walked shakily to where they were standing. Kenneth could see that her eyes were swollen – she had obviously been crying.
“What’s going on?” Nella asked in a controlled voice. She liked to be in control of her emotions, (even when she could not) she did not want to appear weak, at least not after encouraging Kenneth to get over his grief.
The Guardian explained who he was and his mission.
Before Nella could berate him with questions, he raised his hand to stop her.
“You just saw what I did,” he said, quite fed up with the questions, “that was the abyssal realm. And if that doesn’t convince you vampires then I have no idea what will.”
“Why can’t you fight Upir alone?” Nella asked, suspicious.
The Guardian groaned, outwardly this time. Why were they asking so many questions? He asked them, did they not know that he could not directly alter the affairs of this realm, that he belonged to another realm and Nature would not allow a direct interference of a being in a realm outside it’s own?
“I … I honestly don’t know what to make of any of this .” Nella said, her green eyes jumping from The Guardian to a stunned Kenneth and a befuddled Evan.