After the big boulder closed the cave, John felt very afraid. He put both hands on his head. He walked back and forth in the dark.
"Shit! What the fuck just happened? Why does this always happen to me?" he whispered. His voice was shaking. "What are we going to do? This is so bad. How are we going to get out? I can't move that big rock!"
John saw his grandfather lying on the floor. Seeing the his grandfather like that made John stop panicking. He knelt down quickly. "Grandpa, what are we going to do? You have to stand up and get us out of here."
Leonidas made a loud sound of pain. "I... I can't move my legs," he said very quietly. "Decker put more poison in me when we were on the ship. The poison stops me from moving. If you were not here, I would have killed him." The clan lord coughed hard. "But I promised your mother I would protect you."
John looked down. He felt very sad and ashamed. "You're right, Grandpa. I am useless. I should not have come with you." He cried a little. "I am sorry."
John looked around. The cave was very dark, but his vampire eyes let him see everything clearly. He saw the huge room. There were big, sharp rocks hanging from the ceiling. The cave was giant and had many different paths.
"Try to move the rock, boy. We need to get out of here fast," Leonidas said. He was in a lot of pain.
"Yes, Grandpa," John said. He tried to focus.
John put his hands on the big rock. He pushed as hard as he could. He used all his strength, but the boulder did not move at all. He fell to his knees and cried. "I am sorry, Grandpa. I am totally useless."
Leonidas stayed still. He was trying to save his energy to fight the poison. John wiped his eyes. He was going to try pushing again, but then he and his grandfather heard loud footsteps. The sound came from one of the dark paths.
A huge monster walked out. It was a troll named Greyskin. He was over seven feet tall and carried a giant club. His gray skin was rough and had pieces of dead animals on it. John froze. He was more scared than he had ever been.
The troll stopped. He pointed a finger at the clan lord. "Red hair... Leonidas must die. Greyskin hungry." Then he looked at John. "Boy, yummy snack."
Greyskin walked toward Leonidas. The air filled with a bad, metallic smell from the monster. The troll raised his huge club high over his head. He was ready to smash the weak vampire. The Patriarch accepted his fate and closed his eyes.
But the young hybrid boy moved on pure instinct. Without a second of fear, he rushed forward. He wrapped his arms around his grandfather and pulled with everything he had.
Boom!
The club slammed into the stone floor with a force that shook the whole cave. It just barely missed the Clan Lord. As the dust and rock pieces cleared, the troll looked down. He was totally confused. Greyskin scratched his ugly face with a sharp finger. Then he looked to his right.
He saw the young boy bent over, shaking from the weight of his grandfather. "Huff, huff," John gasped. He was breathing hard and fighting to stay on his feet.
Leonidas was shocked but stayed alert. He looked up at his grandson. John gave him a quick, strong smile.
"Father always said that when a friend or family member's shoulder hangs, the other has to hook it for a while so they both can walk," John said. "I know you are one of the strongest vampires, but right now you are weak. It is my turn to step up. If we die, we die together."
John did not waste any time. He reached into his storage ring. He pulled out two elemental stones. One was for fire and the other was for water. He used them both at the same time. The fire and water collided with each other. A big cloud of hot steam filled the cave. John once saw this on TV and did not know if it would work.
The troll was caught off guard. He screamed in pain as the hot steam hit his eyes and nose. Greyskin began to swing his club in every direction. He could not see anything.
John used the chaos. He put his grandfather over his shoulder. The weight was very heavy. He began to run through a dark passage. He felt the weight of Leonidas acutely. But a new surge of strength came to him. I have been training for this, he thought. He pushed his tired body forward.
Eek!
When John arrived in the next part of the cave, he stopped. The area was a scary graveyard. It was covered with human and animal bones.
"What are you screaming for? You are going to give our position away!" Leonidas coughed from John's shoulder.
"Sorry, Grandpa, but we have to escape this place," John whispered. He forced himself to run further into the cave. He chose one dark path after another. "Damn, this place stinks. I cannot die in a place like this," he thought. The smell of death was very strong. He ran until he was far from the troll. He stopped to catch his breath.
But the rest did not last long. After a few minutes, John heard loud footsteps. "Where are the ants hiding? Greyskin likes to play hide and seek," the troll shouted.
John lowered his grandfather off his back. They both hid behind a big pile of bones and skulls.
The troll soon came into the same bone covered area. He carried his huge club on his shoulder. He looked around for them. Greyskin searched the bone piles for a few minutes. Then he roared in frustration. He began hitting everywhere with his club. He smashed the old skeletons. "Come out… Greyskin bored and hungry!"
John watched the troll hitting the bones. He stepped back in pure terror. His foot hit a bone with a sharp sound.
Snap!
The sound of the bone breaking was very loud. The troll stopped roaring and listened. Greyskin turned his massive head. His small, ugly eyes locked onto John. The troll's face had a mean grin.
"Found you," he rumbled. The troll rushed toward them. John felt very afraid. "What are we going to do, Grandpa? We are going to die!"
Tears of fear ran down his cheeks. "I don't want to die, Grandpa," he pleaded.
The vampire lord coughed. He was in a lot of pain, but his voice was strong. "Silence, boy, and help me sit up."
John moved quickly to obey. The boy supported the Clan Lord into a sitting position against the cold wall. Leonidas slowly raised his right arm. A violent tremor shook his index finger from the poison. The old vampire focused his remaining will. Every bit of energy was gathered for the strike.
The vampire lord looked at the monster and spoke in a very calm voice. "Scorched Beam."
A brilliant torch flame emerged from his finger. The fire began to rotate at a high speed. It turned into a focused jet of pure heat. This was his signature attack. The fire beam shot straight through Greyskin's right shoulder.
The troll let out a roar of unimaginable agony. Such concentrated heat was something the monster had never felt before. The massive creature collapsed hard onto the ground. Pain made the monster thrash on the ground and left the him momentarily stunned.
Leonidas looked at John. Sweat and black blood slicked his face. "I spent the last of my available energy. You must use this opportunity to escape," the Patriarch said.
John wiped the tears from his face with fury. He hoisted the heavy, poisoned Leonidas onto his back. The boy began to run. He entered the closest passage without knowing where it led. They just had to move.
A way to save them appeared in the gloom. John spotted a small, jagged hole in the cave wall. It was clear right away that the opening was too small for the massive troll. John had to crouch very low. The boy was almost dragging his grandfather on the ground. They squeezed into the tight, defensive tunnel together.
The travel lasted for at least twenty minutes. It was agonizing work for John. Finally, the pair emerged into a small, secret chamber. This room was not made by nature. It was a man-made room. Someone had built it many years ago as a place to escape the troll. This area was big enough for John to finally stand up. He stretched his aching body. Leonidas was leaned upright against the wall of the secret room.
John walked around the small refuge. His eyes scanned the stone walls. "I wonder who dug this place," he murmured. A grim sight made him stop. A skeleton was sitting quietly in the corner. "Oh, it was probably you. Thank you, kind sir," John said to the bones.
John returned to Leonidas. Every terrifying detail that Decker had revealed was told quickly. The boy spoke about the four day deadline. He spoke about the attack on the castle. The threat to every member of the family was explained.
Leonidas coughed up a mouthful of thick, black blood. He stared at John for a moment. The immense weight of the loss was crushing him. The Clan Lord's eyes were clouded by venom. They still held a look of total defeat.
Despair filled his own voice. "I think this is the end for us. My whole family is probably going to die if everything is going as Decker planned."
John finally snapped. He could not accept this complete surrender from the strongest man he knew. The boy walked quickly to the spot where Leonidas sat against the wall.
Decker's men had already stripped the Patriarch of his heavy red and black coat when they seized his jewelry. Now, the Clan Lord wore only a thin, long-sleeved white shirt. John placed his right hand firmly on his grandfather's shoulder. Through the light fabric of the shirt, he felt the clammy cold of the vampire's skin. He could see the lingering black veins tracing up toward the man's neck.
John looked the Clan Lord directly in the eyes.
"Don't worry, Grandfather," John declared. His voice shook slightly at first, but it grew stronger with every word. "We are going to bust out of this hell hole. We will save our family and kick Decker's ass. Facts."