My Blood Legacy: Bloodlines

Several galleries away from the chamber where Victor was facing Ghideon, Alexa was beginning to reconsider every decision she had ever made in her life.

She stood in the middle of a partially destroyed tunnel with a blood dagger in her right hand and her coat covered in dust, mud, and pieces of flesh that definitely did not belong to her. Four dead werewolves lay at her feet, another was pinned against the wall by several violet needles piercing its arms, and one final creature was still trying to crawl after losing both legs.

The problem was not the difficulty.

The werewolves occupying those tunnels were strong, fast, and annoyingly resilient, but none of them came close to the level required to defeat the combined members of the two squads. The problem was their number, the structure of the trap, and the fact that every gallery seemed to lead to three more, all filled with additional enemies, natural barriers, and mechanisms ready to collapse behind them.

Alexa looked at the communication ring on her finger.

The signal remained unstable.

"Thirty-seven minutes," she said, staring at the tunnel as though it alone were responsible for the delay. "We have been trapped in this garbage for thirty-seven minutes."

A werewolf leaped from a side passage before anyone could react. Alexa did not even turn her body completely. She extended her left hand, formed a violet line in the air, and passed it through the attacker’s neck. The body continued moving for several meters while the head turned in the opposite direction, struck the ground, and slid to a stop near her feet.

Alexa looked at the corpse.

"Thirty-eight."

Farther ahead, Liora and Liria carved a path through another group as though competing to see who could leave the tunnel dirtier. The twins had abandoned any attempt to maintain a discreet formation after the third ambush. Now they advanced side by side, using curved daggers, blood threads, and coordination that turned every enemy attack into an opportunity for slaughter.

Liora avoided a werewolf’s claws with a short step, seized its wrist, and turned beneath the arm. Liria appeared on the other side in the next instant and pierced its abdomen with both blades. Before the body could regenerate, Liora wrapped a blood thread around its neck and pulled until the head separated.

Another werewolf attacked from behind.

Both twins lowered themselves at the same time.

The enemy passed between them, lost its balance, and received four almost simultaneous cuts across the legs, arms, and throat. Its body had not yet touched the ground when Liria stepped on its chest and drove a dagger between its eyes.

Alexa pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Could the two of you stop playing and move faster?"

Liora looked back while blocking a claw with the side of her dagger.

"Go fuck yourself, Alexa."

Liria finished opening another werewolf’s throat and added in the same natural tone:

"We wanted to be home too."

Alexa moved aside from an improvised spear made of bone and blood, seized the shaft when it passed close to her face, and pulled the werewolf responsible for the attack. It lost its balance, staggered toward her, and took a knee to the jaw before its own spear was driven into its chest.

"You wanted to be eating sweets," Alexa replied while twisting the weapon inside the body. "I should be in a bathtub. There is an enormous difference between our priorities."

"Sweets are a priority," Liora said.

"A bathtub is too," Liria agreed. "But that comes afterward."

Alexa tore out the spear and let the corpse fall.

"I prepared blood salts, dark wine, and a bathtub large enough to make me forget how exhausting this life is. The mission was supposed to end quickly. Enter, locate the Specialist, restrain everyone involved, and leave. Not spend the entire night running through tunnels filled with rabid dogs."

A growl came from the neighboring gallery.

Alexa looked in that direction.

"No offense."

Six werewolves emerged through the opening, all partially transformed and covered in similar ritual markings. They advanced together, using the narrow walls to restrict the vampires’ movements. The strategy would have been effective against an ordinary group. Against the people present, however, it only prevented the werewolves themselves from escaping.

Dahlia opened her medical case and threw three vials onto the ground.

The glass shattered.

Yellowish smoke spread through the corridor and reached the first group. Two werewolves continued running for several steps before completely losing control of their legs. A third struck the wall, tried to rise, and realized its arms no longer responded.

Liora passed through the smoke without slowing, wearing a small mask over her nose and mouth. Liria appeared beside her and began finishing the paralyzed enemies with quick strikes to the neck.

"After this, I want sweets," Liora announced.

"I want the ones filled with virgin blood," Liria replied.

Dahlia closed the bag forcefully.

"You are not eating any sweets, and what the hell is this about virgin blood? Are they making sweets with their own blood now?"

The twins stopped for half a second.

A werewolf used the distraction and tried to reach Liora. She held its chin with one hand, turned her face away from the bite, and drove the dagger beneath its jaw without looking.

"What?" both asked at the same time.

Dahlia looked at them with a dangerously calm expression.

"If this continues, you are going a week without sweets."

The twins seemed more offended by that than by being called virgins or by all the werewolves that had tried to kill them throughout the night.

Alexa passed them without slowing.

"Resolved. Now keep killing."

The group advanced through another gallery and found a fork. The path to the left descended toward the main laboratory, but had collapsed minutes earlier, blocked by tons of stone reinforced with lunar symbols. The path to the right continued toward a drainage area near the sea, while the central corridor led back to the upper storage rooms.

Every path was occupied.

At least twenty werewolves waited among the three passages, some in almost human form and others completely transformed. The largest had to lower their heads to fit beneath the ceiling. There were also two vampires among them, both wearing dark cloaks and carrying small artifacts responsible for the barriers spread through the tunnels.

Alexa looked at the enemies.

Then at the collapsed wall.

Then she checked the communication ring, which continued malfunctioning.

Her left eye twitched.

"I should already be in the bathtub."

One of the vampires raised his artifact and began speaking:

"You will not leave these tunnels while the process—"

Alexa threw the dagger.

The blade entered through his mouth and exited the back of his head.

The body fell before he finished the sentence.

"I do not have time for speeches," she said, pulling the weapon back with a blood thread. "Kill everyone and find a route downward."

The werewolves attacked.

The twins ran first. Liora threw three daggers toward the group on the left, not to strike them physically, but to attach blood threads to the walls. Liria crossed the space between the lines, passed the first werewolf, and pulled the threads behind her. The trap closed, cutting muscles, tendons, and throats while the enemies were still trying to follow her position.

Dahlia remained behind them, using long needles coated in different substances. Every strike produced a different effect. One werewolf lost its sight. Another began vomiting blood before falling. A third remained conscious, but its body became completely rigid when the toxin blocked its muscular impulses.

Alexa positioned herself in front of the central path. She moved her fingers while small violet lines appeared in the air, connecting the communication ring to the energy points around the enemies. The technique was not intended for direct destruction. Alexa read the blood flow, identified weak points, and transmitted their positions to the others.

A werewolf advanced from the right.

She moved two fingers.

"Left knee, lower rib, and base of the neck."

Yvonne appeared without making a sound.

Her sword left the sheath only once. The first strike severed the tendon behind the knee. The second entered between the ribs and pierced the heart. The third opened the base of the neck, interrupting circulation before regeneration could begin.

The werewolf fell without understanding what had happened.

Yvonne continued walking.

Another tried to attack her from behind. She tilted her head, allowed the claws to pass beside her face, and thrust the sword backward, piercing the enemy’s abdomen without turning her body. Then she twisted her wrist, opened the side of its body, and withdrew the blade in one precise motion.

Alexa watched the efficiency.

"You could have done that earlier."

Yvonne cleaned the sword on the dead man’s clothes.

"You were enjoying yourself."

"I am not enjoying myself."

"You talk too much for someone who is irritated."

"I talk when I am irritated."

"Then you are always irritated."

Alexa opened her mouth to answer, but an explosion shook the tunnels. The wave came from the lower galleries and caused parts of the ceiling to collapse. Dust fell over everyone, the lunar barriers wavered, and several werewolves lost their balance.

The impact was powerful enough to be felt throughout the entire structure.

Liria cut an enemy’s face and looked downward.

"Victor."

Liora tore out another throat.

"Definitely."

Alexa became even more irritated.

"If that idiot destroys the city before I get there, I am going to kill him."

Dahlia used a short saw to remove a werewolf’s arm.

"Get in line."

Another tremor crossed the gallery. This time, a column of white energy passed through a distant fissure, illuminating the corridors for an instant. The heat reached the group even through dozens of meters of stone.

Alexa looked at the ceiling.

"They are fighting Ghideon without us."

"Technically, we are fighting without them," Liora commented.

"It looks like they are having more fun," Liria added.

Alexa ran a hand across her face, spreading even more blood and dust.

"Enough. We are destroying these tunnels."

Dahlia stopped cutting the arm.

"You want to destroy everything?"

"I want to open a direct route."

"That could kill prisoners."

"Then first we find the correct direction."

The twins looked at the three passages, then at the stone blockage and lunar symbols. Liora kicked a corpse aside.

"How?"

Alexa searched her mental map of the galleries for an answer, but the structure had already changed too much. Collapses had blocked routes, the werewolves had opened new passages, and the drainage system was beginning to receive seawater. Any elaborate plan would require time they did not have.

Yvonne sheathed her sword.

"Be quiet."

Everyone looked at her.

Yvonne pointed toward the blocked wall, maintaining the same cold expression and calm posture as always.

"We are following that shitty plan. We are going to destroy these garbage tunnels beneath this garbage city, open a path to the laboratory, and go home after finishing this shitty mission."

A deep silence took over the gallery.

Even the remaining werewolves hesitated for an instant, confused by the unexpected change in the woman’s tone.

Alexa blinked.

Dahlia slowly lowered the saw.

The twins looked at each other.

Yvonne frowned slightly.

"What?"

Alexa, Dahlia, Liora, and Liria answered together:

"We thought you were only cold, but you have a filthy mouth."

Yvonne stared at them for several seconds, then drew her sword again and decapitated a werewolf trying to approach from behind.

"I simply do not waste words."

Alexa began laughing.

Not because it was particularly funny, but because the exhaustion, rage, and absurdity of the mission finally broke something inside her. The laughter lasted only a few seconds before disappearing, replaced by her usual irritated expression.

"Fine. Does the foul-mouthed one have a plan?"

Yvonne pointed toward the dead vampire carrying the second artifact.

"The lunar symbols are connected to the artifacts, not the walls. Dahlia dissolves the blood being used as a conductor. The twins eliminate the rest. You overload the barrier through the communication network. I cut the central point when it fails."

Alexa examined the artifact and realized Yvonne was right. The inscriptions did not receive energy directly from the werewolves. A thin network of blood mixed with lunar components passed through the cracks and connected the barriers to the two objects.

"This is going to explode," Dahlia commented.

"Yes," Yvonne replied.

"How much?"

"A lot."

Liora smiled.

"Now this is getting good."

Liria spun her daggers.

"Then we are going to eat sweets."

Dahlia pointed the saw toward them.

"You are not."

The twins advanced against the remaining werewolves while arguing with the healer. Liora passed beneath a claw, opened the enemy’s abdomen, and shouted that she had already hidden sweets. Dahlia replied that she knew where they were and had already thrown them away. Liria interrupted her own attack for half a second to call the healer a monster, then removed the werewolf’s head with both daggers.

Alexa walked toward the barrier, pressed the communication ring against its surface, and closed her eyes. The network tried to expel her energy, but she transformed the mental connection into an irregular frequency, sending brief impulses through each passage. The symbols began failing in sequence.

Dahlia poured a silver substance over the blood inside the fissures. The liquid hissed, produced dense smoke, and dissolved the channels feeding the barrier.

Yvonne positioned herself in front of the central point.

"Now."

Alexa overloaded the ring.

The barrier exploded.

Yvonne cut.

Her sword passed through the main symbol, the wall, and part of the structure behind it. For an instant, nothing happened. Then a thin line appeared across the entire obstruction.

The tons of stone split apart.

The entire tunnel collapsed inward, opening a direct passage descending toward the laboratory. A wave of dust, heat, and pressure emerged from the opening. In the distance, everyone heard a roar that belonged to no ordinary werewolf.

Alexa sheathed the dagger and entered first.

"Finally."

Liora and Liria followed immediately behind, still arguing about sweets. Dahlia carried the bag while promising to put laxatives in everything the two ate in secret, while Yvonne remained at the rear to ensure no enemy survived the destruction.

Alexa touched the communication ring while moving through the new passage.

"Mirella, we are coming down. We had a small complication."

The captain’s answer came through explosions and sounds of combat.

"Small?"

Alexa looked at the destroyed tunnels, the dozens of corpses, and her own clothes covered in blood.

"I will explain later. And when this is over, no one speaks to me until I finish my bath."