The venom that lay dormant inside Leonidas's body when he drank the lemon rose tea was now fully triggered by Decker's command. For Leonidas, the realization came out of nowhere, hitting him like a physical blow. The pain was immediate and agonizing; it was unlike anything his legendary vampire body had ever experienced. He began to spasm violently, his body shaking uncontrollably, and thick, black veins began to creep up his neck and face, standing out against his pale skin.
John, who had been sitting near the window, immediately noticed his grandfather's distress. "Yo, Grandpa, what's wrong? Why are you tweakin'?" he asked, using the familiar slang of his home world.
Leonidas continued to shake for a few more seconds, his powerful body temporarily betrayed by the chemical agent. He finally regained a fraction of control, looking at Decker with a furious, desperate grip on his chest. "What the hell did you do to me, Decker?"
Decker grinned evilly, savoring the moment. "Nothing, my lord," he replied, his voice dripping with false innocence.
Leonidas then sensed something far more dangerous than the venom. He looked out the window and saw a horrifying sight: his elite vampire guards were being attacked and killed by dark, humanoid shadow figures. In a flash of panicked instinct, Leonidas grabbed John and immediately burst through the side of the carriage, shattering the wooden frame to escape the confines of the trap.
When Leonidas landed outside, he saw that all of his accompanying knights lay dead. John was utterly shocked and afraid; everything had happened so quickly, a blur of motion and death. He looked up at his grandfather, who now had a stern, warrior's expression on his face, momentarily overriding the effects of the poison. "What the hell is going on, Gramps?"
The large carriage then came to a grinding stop, and Decker stepped out, his eyes gleaming with malicious satisfaction.
Four of the black shadow figures immediately surrounded John and Leonidas, their forms indistinct and menacing. "My Lord, why did you jump out of the carriage, hehehe?" Decker chuckled, slowly walking toward the cornered pair.
John, staring at the assailants, made a horrifying discovery: the dark figures had the exact same facial features as Decker. "Yo, Decker, what is the meaning of this?!" he yelled, the confusion momentarily overriding his fear.
Leonidas, his entire body wracked by the venom, was now consumed by a rare, terrible rage; it had been centuries since anyone dared to ambush him, let alone succeed. "You will die for this, Decker!"
In a flash of pure vampire speed, Leonidas instantly attacked, aiming to take Decker's head off, but a dark figure materialized instantly to block his strike. The clash of Leonidas's legendary force against the shadow's form produced a sickening thud. Leonidas was genuinely surprised that the dark figure was able to block his attack so effectively. His anger spiking, he lashed out with a massive fireball attack that forced even Decker to scramble out of the way. The ground where the figure had stood was instantly scorched black, and the shadow assailant was nowhere to be found.
Leonidas straightened, only to cough up a thick mouthful of black blood. Three more black figures immediately converged, surrounding the ailing Patriarch.
"Grandpa!" John cried, instinctively moving to run toward Leonidas, but his grandfather held out a shaking, authoritative hand.
"Don't come closer, boy; you will just get in the way."
John gritted his teeth, his fists clenched in impotent fury. "Fine," he spat.
Leonidas forced himself to focus, looking directly at his betrayer. "You surprise me, Decker. How did you manage to poison me? I can sense this is werewolf venom, and from an Alpha Lord no less. I am impressed."
Decker walked forward with his hands casually clasped behind his back, enjoying the desperate moment. "I have more surprises up my sleeve, My Lord. Now, attack!"
The dark figures lunged at Leonidas simultaneously. Despite his poisoned state, his reflexes were still lightning fast; he managed to dodge all their attacks and countered with blasts of fire, which instantly consumed and burned the three shadowy figures to ash.
"Now it's time for you to die!" Leonidas roared, shooting a concentrated fireball directly at Decker.
However, just as the flame reached him, another dark figure emerged directly out of Decker's own body to block the attack. The figure vaporized, but Decker was untouched.
Decker laughed—a cold, hollow sound. "You don't get it, Leonidas. I cannot be killed, and the dark figures you killed will just come back to life."
Leonidas coughed up more black blood into his hand and finally collapsed to his knees, the venom overwhelming his resilience. When he looked up, five more dark figures had manifested and were surrounding him in a tight circle.
"Dammit, I don't have access to all my abilities. What did that witch put into the venom?" he cursed to himself. With a final, desperate exertion of his internal power, he looked at the black blood staining his hand and vaporized it with a concentrated burst of his fire ability.
Intense red fire surrounded Leonidas's hands, the sheer heat radiating outward. Even John could feel the scorching temperature from where he was standing safely away. The five dark figures immediately resumed their attack, rushing the Patriarch simultaneously.
Leonidas dodged their concentrated assault with blinding speed and retaliated with a massive fire wave that erupted from his core and instantly engulfed all five figures. The fire was so intensely hot that John had to instinctively run even further away from the battle scene. Leonidas capitalized on the brief moment of freedom to launch a direct attack on Decker while the shadow figures were busy regenerating.
"Die!" Leonidas bellowed, charging.
Decker, his expression now serious, summoned a dark figure to physically throw himself out of the line of fire. As he dodged, another dark figure attacked Leonidas from behind, kicking him in the back with tremendous force and sending him crashing into a nearby cluster of boulders.
"Grandpa!" John cried out, worried sick as he saw his mighty grandfather slammed into the rock face.
Leonidas emerged from the rubble, barely staggered, and instantly went after two nearby dark figures. He grabbed both by the face and, with a silent surge of power, burned their heads completely off. He didn't pause, immediately throwing a blazing fireball toward Decker, which detonated against the vampire, violently blowing Decker's right shoulder away.
John, witnessing his grandfather's savage, momentary victory, cheered him on, adrenaline surging. "Go, Grandpa, kick their ass!"
Leonidas delivered a powerful kick toward another dark figure, but the shadow, surprisingly, managed to catch his foot. Leonidas simply grinned, a cold, powerful expression. "Fool," he spat. A hidden fireball shot out from his boot, sending the dark figure flying away with a violent explosion.
The Patriarch then rose into the air and began to focus his energy, creating a colossal fireball. He looked down at the regenerating Carlos Decker and announced the name of his ultimate attack: "Take this, Destruction Flame Sphere!" The huge flame ball began to pulse, its color shifting from deep red to an ominous light blue flame.
Decker had a look of genuine terror on his face. In a desperate, tactical move, he pointed directly at John. "Are you also going to kill your grandson, Leonidas?!"
Leonidas looked down at John, and that split second of distraction was all the venom needed. The compound flared violently inside his body. Black blood immediately leaked from his nose, and his entire frame began to spasm wildly. More black blood leaked from his mouth, and that moment of physical vulnerability gave one of the regenerating black figures enough time to rush him and drive a shadowy fist straight through Leonidas's stomach.
The huge blue fireball immediately dissipated, and the Patriarch fell from the sky, hitting the scorched ground with a heavy thud.
"You had me worried there for a second, My Lord," Decker sneered, his right shoulder already reforming. He quickly appeared where Leonidas was lying, pressing his foot down hard on the Patriarch's chest. "You fucking cunt."
One of the dark figures had already grabbed John and dragged him over to where Decker was standing. "Let go of me, you jerk!" John shouted, struggling. The dark figure released him, and he immediately ran to his grandfather's side.
"Grandpa, are you okay? Stand up! I thought you were the strongest!"
Leonidas groaned, writhing in agonizing pain. His regenerative ability, slowed drastically by the Alpha Lord venom, was barely working. "Piss off," he managed to snarl, the pride still burning through the poison.
He looked up at Decker, making a final sacrifice. "Leave the boy, Decker. Kill me and spare him."
Decker chuckled, the sound devoid of warmth. "Oh no, My Lord, you don't get to make demands here. You and the boy are going to die, but unfortunately, not by my hands. I have something else in store for you two."
Decker took his foot off Leonidas's chest and walked directly to John. "You have my thanks, Young Master. If you weren't here, I surely would have died," he stated, his face twisted into a mask of false gratitude. Without warning, he delivered a quick, hard punch to John's stomach, instantly knocking the boy unconscious.
Carlos Decker then began to prance and dance lightly around Leonidas, savoring his victory.
After roughly half an hour, two large flying ships—a technology clearly above the normal standards of the vampire world—emerged from the sky and landed nearby. Several of Decker's armed henchmen emerged and were ordered to carefully load John and the severely weakened Leonidas onto one of the ships.
They traveled for a few hours. When John finally woke up, his head was throbbing, and he was disoriented. The motion of the ship and the darkness disoriented him. "Where are we?" he managed to groan.
Decker, standing over him, smiled—a chilling, triumphant expression. "I brought you here to meet my child. However, he is always hungry, and you two are going to be his dinner."
Leonidas, lying nearby, was in catastrophic pain. He had stab wounds all over his body, and the Alpha Lord venom was so potent that his legendary regenerative ability was failing completely. John looked at his grandfather's un-healing wounds and was hit by a wave of terror, realizing the Patriarch might actually die.
The ship landed near a rocky outcrop. Decker then ordered his men to move the huge boulder that was blocking the cave's dark, yawning entrance.
Decker stood at the mouth of the cave, looking down at the defeated vampire who was now at his mercy.
"Leonidas, you thought I forgot, but I still remember that time how you let my daughter be devoured by that creature. Today, you and your grandchild will both be eaten. It is a shame I will not be here to see it, but I will surely come to collect your bones and give them to Vivian."
Leonidas's face was etched with pain and confusion. "Who the hell is Vivian?" he rasped, his voice weak.
Carlos Decker began to laugh—a maniacal, high-pitched sound. "Of course, you don't know! How many people's family members have you reaped? You've killed thousands; you probably lost count of how much pain you've caused. You don't even care at this point! Her full name is Vivian Ashdown. She's actually responsible for the venom spreading in your body. Without her, this wouldn't have been possible, hehe."
John was left speechless. He couldn't believe his grandfather—the man who commanded his world—was such an evil person, responsible for such a devastating crime. He looked at Leonidas, demanding the truth. "Grandpa, is it true?"
Carlos Decker continued to laugh, the sound hollow and manic. "How could you not know, Young Master? I am sorry that you have to die too; blame your grandfather in the next life... And Leonidas, go ask my daughter for forgiveness while you are there."
Decker then looked at his henchmen. "Take anything Leonidas has on him, and then throw them both in the cave."
The henchmen roughly stripped the weapons and belongings from the incapacitated Patriarch. Leonidas was then picked up like a sack and unceremoniously thrown into the dark cave. John, still conscious and in relatively good condition, was roughly shoved inside after him.
John immediately scrambled to his grandfather's side. "Grandpa, are you okay?" He then looked back at the receding figure of Decker, demanding answers. "What happens now, Mr. Decker? Are you just going to leave us here?"
Decker chuckled, the sound devoid of warmth. "Silly, silly boy. Did you not hear what I said? You are going to die in this cave. There is a troll in here; I raised him myself, and he is going to devour you both, just like my daughter. He will eat everything except your bones."
A wave of primal fear washed over John. He looked at his grandfather, whose eyes were starting to flutter toward unconsciousness.
Decker, feeling immensely pleased with himself, offered a final, cruel piece of advice. "The cave is huge; you have time to stall, but my boy will find you eventually. He likes the chase." Decker grinned, enjoying the terror.
"There have been many victims inside this cave over the years. Do try to survive as long as possible. And tell Leonidas that I am going to attack his castle in four days. Furthermore, I have to rest to get my powers back; I am still getting used to it. Tell him to be patient. Tell him that I will send every single one of his family members to the afterlife, including the children and the maids."
John's terror instantly solidified into cold fury. The mention of the maids—of Elena—and his grandmother snapped something inside him. He clenched his fists, eyes burning. "I won't let that happen," he vowed, his voice tight with raw promise.
Decker found John's statement hilarious. He threw his head back and laughed uproariously, then began to dance a little victory jig. "You have much bigger things to worry about, boy!"
"Now, close the entrance!" Decker ordered his henchmen.
They began to slowly move the huge boulder. John stood his ground, staring furiously at Decker, his young face etched with pure hatred and determination as the massive stone slowly sealed their prison.