When they had finished eating, Orpheus Sangrael rose from his table and motioned for Blacky to follow him. Orpheus headed straight for the fireplace, looking from left to right while sensing if anyone was around. Once certain that no one was there, he activated a lever near the fireplace. The latter slid aside, and Blacky saw that there was a staircase inside that led to an upper floor.
"You see, kid, this place is my personal sanctum. No one is allowed to enter. Not even my daughter or the governesses have ever set foot in here, and they have no knowledge of this place, with the exception of your father and you," Orpheus explained.
Blacky began to sweat on the spot, as the atmosphere of the staircase made him nauseous and feel faint.
"Tch... It smells like a corpse in here. Is there a cemetery here?" Blacky asked, as if the information Orpheus Sangrael had just shared with him hadn't registered.
"Be patient, kid. I hope you'll be able to keep your cool."
The two arrived in front of a wooden door, which bore some sort of protective runes. Blacky immediately noted that the place in question must be truly important to be sealed in such a way.
Orpheus raised his hand, and it emitted a white glow. Then, the door opened by itself. When the door opened, Blacky could see a malevolent aura, like a smoky haze, escaping from within the room.
Orpheus raised his arm towards Blacky. "Hey, kid, don't just stand there planted, follow me!"
When they entered the room, the first thing that struck Blacky was the presence of several heads, like hunting trophies. Strangely, they were all human heads; there were those of the most horrific criminals in the United States of America, with their names and eras marked on a golden plaque above their heads.
"Holy shit, are you a psychopath too, like my old man?" Blacky said, completely disgusted.
Then, Orpheus Sangrael took a seat in his office chair and turned towards his window, which offered a panoramic view of his property and the rest of the city.
But Blacky was beginning to lose patience. "Come on, Mister Orpheus, why did you bring me here?"
Orpheus Sangrael took a cigarette from his drawer and lit it before explaining himself to Blacky. "Do you know who all these heads belonged to?"
Blacky raised an eyebrow. "Uh... not really."
Orpheus smiled and held out a newspaper. When Blacky took the paper, he realized that everything written in it was related to murders linked to cultists.
"Cut to the chase, Sir Orpheus, I've seen enough things related to death for a while and I don't feel very comfortable here."
Orpheus steepled his fingers and replied. "That's perfectly normal, kid, but you should know that most of these heads in here belong to cultists of The Black Hand. If your father crossed dimensions to land on the terrestrial plane, it was precisely to honor the day of vampires, but he targeted specific cultists," Orpheus explained.
Blacky found all this very strange. "Why attack and kill cultists? They can do what they want. I think that's cultophobia," Blacky protested.
"This sect has existed since the dawn of time, and it was because of one of their artifacts, an old book of black magic, the Seal of Ynath, that your father and I became vampires."
The Seal of Ynath was a book created by Lord Ynath, the being who had offered his own consciousness to bind countless layers between the planes. The Seal contains shreds of another fire, better known as Satan. This book possessed an absolute evil power that could enslave all the creatures of the underworld.
However, this book went missing for unknown reasons, and since then, various cults have performed numerous ritualistic sacrifices to try to find the famous book in order to complete their plans.
"But how did you end up in this situation?" Blacky asked.
Orpheus became serious again and said, "Back in the year 1000, there was the founder of the black sect, Voorhees, who cursed both of our respective lineages because of a delicate conflict, and our lineage was struck by a curse that condemned us to live with an incurable disease." He paused.
"Your father and I watched our entire lineages die out, so to lift the curse, we used the Seal of Ynath to make a pact with Satan and lift the curse. But we were suckers; instead, we contracted another curse, that of becoming vampires."
Blacky's head was spinning, trying to process what he had just heard, because it was too much. He almost thought he was in a fictional universe, so he was at a loss for words.
"Satan? The demon? That's all so creepy," Blacky expressed his fears.
Then he continued, this time sitting down across from Orpheus.
"But why are they doing this?..."
Orpheus sighed and replied. "It's simple, there is a legend that says the holder of this book would be the master of the underworld; he would have a hierarchically superior control over hell," said Orpheus.
Then, the latter rose from his chair and walked towards Blacky. He raised his index finger towards Blacky's chest, where Dracula had planted the necrotic blade.
"That's why I need you. You must awaken your hybrid nature and dismantle all the cultist networks around the world, with this blade that vibrates inside of you."
Blacky was surprised: how did he know all that? He wondered if his father had informed him about the necrotic blade, but he wasn't too sure of his thoughts.
But he too noticed something on Orpheus's neck; it was a huge cross-shaped necklace with an eye in the middle.
"How... how do you know about the blade? And besides, you're a vampire, right? Can't you solve this situation in the blink of an eye?" Blacky asked Orpheus.
Orpheus took on an arrogant air and spread his arms with his eyes closed.
"It's simple, I am a four-dimensional being, so by default I can see everything—organs, things that are inside a box. I can see it without opening the box and I can take it without touching the box. That's where my necklace comes in; it restrains my powers, because an excessive use of my dominance could destroy the entire structure that exists on the material plane."
Blacky nodded and remained thoughtful.
It was then that a voice was heard in the room where Blacky and Orpheus were; it was a sort of long-distance communication between Dracula and Orpheus through mere thought.
Blacky raised his head to the ceiling to see if there wasn't a hidden speaker in the room.
"What is this nonsense, who's talking?" Blacky asked Orpheus.
"Don't worry, kid, it's Dracula communicating telepathically."
Blacky found that these days were becoming more and more absurd: first, a vampire shows up and says he's his father, then he sees his mother's remains cut into pieces, and then he finds out that bloodthirsty cultists are involved.
Events were piling up more and more. Dracula was relaying the information he had gathered from the vampire council.
"Orpheus, I got more information while talking with the council, but as you must have guessed, the cult you were hunting was just a sub-network. In general, this system exists everywhere on the terrestrial plane, in every field. Be vigilant," Dracula explained.
"I see, that's why their numbers were growing. Information received. It's time to exterminate the vermin."
Dracula broke the telepathic link, and Orpheus turned his gaze towards Blacky. "It's time for you, kid, to develop your dominance. For that, the governess, Isolde Ritcher, shall be your teacher."
Blacky was not thrilled to be under the tutelage of the governess, Isolde. It was, by the way, the first time he had heard her name. Apparently, dominance seemed to be one of the most important elements among vampires.
Blacky would have to put his job on the back burner, as he now had a new role to play, and it was far from being a bad joke.
It was then that the men decided to leave the room and head towards the governess, Isolde.