Chapter 81 – Tales From The Dungeon

TERESA.

I didn’t know where I was. Nothing in this place seemed familiar to me and I was just guided by the smell because I was in total darkness.

Panic had no place or purpose. I had to find a way out of here. It felt like the rancid smell and humidity made me think I was somewhere in a cellar.

And suddenly a bright light showed up in the cellar until I realized that only the hallway was lit by a torch that had just been set on fire by someone.

Next to me was another girl, thin, motionless, almost dead. I didn’t even know what color her hair was. I had my hands chained, so were my legs, so I realized I was in a dungeon and that my situation, and that of this young woman next to me, did not look very good.

“Hey, you!” I said, trying to wake her up, but she seemed out of this world.

She had her head lowered, and her wrists were already bleeding. “Hey, can you hear me?” I shouted again, hoping she would hear me this time.

Suddenly she raised her head and in her eyes besides terror I saw relief, maybe a ray of hope.

“Did you come to set me free?”

The poor girl asked me with her eyes swimming in bitter tears, almost swallowing them with thirst as they fell. I don’t think I’ll ever forget her terrified look if I get out of here safely. And if I escape, I will do the impossible to save her too.

“I wish I would. Where are we?” I asked, looking around again.

“Ok, I understand. It is a pity. Unfortunately, we are in hell and we have no escape from here. The devil is always watching us and in the slightest attempt to escape, you do not want to know what will happen to you.”

Her stories seemed torn from books, but was that so?

“Has this ever happened before?” I still tried to ask.

“So many times, I lost count. My poor companions, as I heard their cries of pain, I covered my ears so that I could no longer hear them and I prayed I would not follow in their steps. Then came some infernal noises, as if someone was fighting, and I shouted as loud as I could that I was here, but no one heard me. Then I didn’t hear my friends at all and I didn’t see the pretty girl anymore. “

Her meaningless words intrigued me and although I didn’t know what the hell was going on here. Maybe her twisted memories, no matter how unbelievable and painful may seem, gave me a greater picture of this world.

“Pretty girl? What pretty girl are you talking about?” I asked.

She already threw me even deeper into the darkness of her mind. Who knows what the poor thing suffered here?

“I never knew her name. She just came from time to time to bring me something to eat and at some point, after she told me she would release me, I never saw her again. She was the only one who spoke to me. The devil who locked me in here won’t let me talk to anyone. “

“And those noises you were talking about, did you say they seemed like a fight?”

I wondered what the fight was about? I was trying to put things together, but with the nonsense she was saying, it was almost impossible. Nevertheless, I was sure that somewhere in her subconscious, the story was somehow close to the truth, but where was the true ending and where did the fiction begin?

“Yes, it was exactly like a fight. As if they came, fought, took the girls, and left. Only they forgot about me or just didn’t find me. I can’t condemn them. This place is a damn maze. I remember the day she brought me here. I didn’t understand why until she told me. And I’m inclined to believe that she brought you in for the same reason.”

Now I really understood nothing. I really needed an explanation.

“I don’t understand you ... I don’t even know your name.”

“Sonia Von Hagen ...” she said and then my heart stopped.

My thoughts flew in all directions. If I really had a connection with Erik, then it explains why I was here too, from what this girl was blabbering.

“Did you just say, Von Hagen? Does that mean you know Erik Von Hagen?” I asked shyly, already knowing her answer.

“My uncle? How can I not know him? My dear, if you’re here with me, most likely you’re connected to him. If I tell you the real reason you’re here, you’ll definitely hate me. But even to let you discover it alone, I wouldn’t do that either. You have to be prepared for what’s coming. “My heart was pounding and if I listened to one more word, it would explode.

“Then tell me!” I shouted at her almost imperatively.

Although I still had a vague idea, I certainly won’t believe it now either. I will need solid evidence, not a coincidence. “By the way, I’m Teresa Bradley!”

“Nice to meet you even though I would have liked to know you in different circumstances, but there is nothing we can do.” She began trying to change her position when a grimace of pain appeared on her face. “It’s strange how after a while you get used to all this, to the pain, to the loneliness. Anyway, if this devil brought you here and locked you in with me in this dungeon, then you have a great connection with my uncle. I don’t know what kind of connection you have, but it is certain that this demon needs the blood of a descendant of an original vampire. Probably I didn’t regenerate my blood as often as I did because I lost the count of years since I’ve been here.”

I have to find a way out of here.

“You think in vain, Teresa, there is no escape from here! I’m sorry I read your thoughts. I haven’t done it in a long time. That’s how I found out about Lettice’s evil plan!” Sonia excused.

That name seemed to hit me in the back of the head. It seemed, and it didn’t seem, familiar to me. It is certain that I had not heard it before, but it transmitted the same shivers to me when I came face to face with the demon with Luana Antonov’s eyes, and how I did not believe in coincidences…

“Lettice, you said? I haven’t heard that name before…”

“After you get out of here ... sorry, I rectify. If you get out of here, you will remember her your entire life. To end the presentations, I am the daughter of Kane Von Hagen. My father killed Erik’s parents. There was nothing I could do to stop it. Kane was thirsty only for blood. My father also killed Adam, Erik’s twin brother. Erik and his daughter tried an enchantment to help him, but they didn’t succeed. Adam gave his last breath in his arms!”

Suddenly, this story seemed so familiar to me, and yet I felt it was not mine. Or maybe it was, but my mind refused to accept it?

“Does Erik have a daughter?” I dared to learn more from Sonia, although I didn’t know how much she knew.

“Yes, as a coincidence and a joke of destiny, her name is also Teresa, just like you. She was five years old when she performed the enchantment with Erik. Then, to be honest, I don’t know what happened to them. After the atrocities of my father, I never found my place. I always ran where no one knew me. I only had a life of my own. Then Lettice caught me and brought me here and here I will find my end,” she said with a trace of regret.

But if she knew nothing about that girl, maybe it wasn’t me. “Everything I told you does not exclude the possibility that you have a connection with Erik Von Hagen. Maybe you are his daughter…”

Coming from the mouth of a stranger, I didn’t believe it either, but it raised a lot more questions. Am I the daughter of a vampire? How impossible could it be? Then where are my fangs? Sonia has them as she is a vampire. “I know you’re wondering, but find out that if you’re Erik’s daughter, your mother was a woman with miraculous powers. You can’t even imagine. She could wreck anything with her mind, throw fire from her hands, use her mind for anything, and heal anyone with a touch. She had an extraordinary ability to unleash hell on earth if she got furious. No one could touch her in battle. My aunt was truly incredible!”

My heart stopped again. She seemed to describe me in the slightest detail. I felt differently when Sonia was talking about a woman I didn’t know and had never seen. Or did I not remember her?

I felt an inner warmth that filled all my pores and enveloped me like two arms that I longed for so long. Why didn’t I believe Erik was my father and I believed Jessica was my mother?