The vampire soon turned his attention towards me. I shot him twice in the chest, but it did nothing. Thinking quickly I ran to the beach as I didn't want to drag him back to the hotel where innocent people could be caught in the crossfire. (So much for the hotel being vampire proof.)
On the beach below however I saw a young family, who had retreated to escape the commotion with the wolvron above. The vampire naturally seemed to pay more attention to them, roaring and slabbering in their direction, so this time I shot him in the kneecaps. He collapsed to the floor in pain at least right in front of the cliff we had both just climbed down. It was then I got an idea. I needed to at least try and get this stake through his heart as it was the only real weapon I had, but obviously there was no way I could overpower him, so I decided to shoot at the rocks on the cliff behind, whilst he was on his knees.
The blasts from the gun were strong enough to create huge boulders which after enough shots buried the vampire and trapped him. It wouldn't hold the demon for long, so I took my chance and rammed the stake into his chest whilst he was down. Sadly it wasn't as easy as they make it out in the movies. I had to hit it several times with the butt of my gun and eventually one of the heaviest of the boulders I could lift. I managed to hammer it through his heart just as he had pushed the largest boulder away from his right arm.
Fortunately this was lethal to this breed of vampire unlike the silver bullets and he soon crumbled into a tiny pile of ash on the floor.
The family were in complete shock, and I didn't bother to explain it to them. Who knows maybe they'd have been open minded and would have become among the greatest vampire killers of all time if I'd shared the truth, but in hindsight I think it was probably better to get the hell out of there.
I crawled back up the cliff and ran into the hotel. I couldn't believe I'd actually taken the life of something. Even a vampire. Just before it crumbled to dust there was a look on its face, as though for a moment I could get a glimpse of the person it had been when it was a human. The line between the human they once were and the demon they have become can get blurry depending on the breed, at least according to O'Brien. Maybe in that moment the man came alive one last time as the beast lost its control. I don't know, but that look will stay with me. Somewhat disturbingly I've already found it gets easier to take a life. Since then I've killed another four vampires and I've never experienced anything like the first one. Hell I even made a little joke after the fourth staking. I don't have any regrets over my actions though. Had I not staked that monster he would have killed me and the family and god knows who else for fun. I just hope that I'm not too quick to jump in there with a stake in future, given how easy I apparently find it.
I waited in the hotel for the next 20 minutes or so trying to contact any of the team. It was absolute chaos down in Port Patrick as the authorities struggled to keep everybody in line. James and Elizabeth were the first to respond to me. Whilst they hadn't found any vampires, they'd had a run in with another Pterosaur. A red, from the sound of things Rhamphoryincus that was similarly oversized. They had not only managed to shoot it, but tossed its corpse into the sea. A pity as I would have liked to have seen it, but still I told them that the hotel wasn't safe. They later told me, based on my description, that the vampire that had entered the hotel came from a fairly rare breed that prior to today had last been seen in Scotland over 100 years ago. It like the others had arrived here to help the Blue Devil's resurrection. Sadly due to its rarity, they hadn't been able to gather data on what magics could harm it, allowing the bloodsucker to slip through their defences.
James and Elizabeth naturally didn't want to take anymore chances and they met up with me outside of Port Patrick, making sure I brought plenty of weapons from the hotel first. All the while they continued to try to contact O'Brien and Sophia, who eventually did respond, after they'd both managed to swim to safety and settled back in Glenluse.
When we met up, Sophia revealed that one of the bullets she shot into the wolvron had come equipped with magics that could allow them to track it. She always kept one of them in her rounds in case her gun didn't work.
The wolvron had retreated back to Morton Castle presumably with its vampire masters. With no other choice, we were forced to steal a car, as it was too long on foot and time was of the essence. To be clear I didn't hotwire the car in case they ever figure out who did it! O'Brien promised that he would pay back whoever's car it was.
Anyway once we reached Morton Castle, the vampires who could go out in the daylight soon emerged to confront us. This breed were hideous, green skinned, bat like creatures. According to O'Brien they were common in Norway, but almost unheard of in Scotland. Vampires from all over the world really were coming to witness the Blue Devil's resurrection. They ended up being the least of our problems however as a giant Dinosaur soon emerged from the lake by castle Morton.
It didn't look like any Dinosaur I'd ever seen, either in a museum or in the Great Caradon's garden.
For one thing it was bigger. It was over 70 feet tall and stood completely erect, like a Kangeroo and dragged its tail along the ground. Its skin meanwhile was chalk white, whilst its eyes were bright red. Its roar on the other hand sounded almost a snake hissing and a bird screeching at the same time! I'd later learn that this monster was known as a Vyrkosaurus Rex "undead lizard king." It was a Tyrannosaurus that had been brought back via magics, but deliberately tampered with to be larger and more powerful. Vampires revered and worshipped the Tyrannosaurus Rex most of all. To be fair we all do. I know it's the most boring and predictable answer you could give, but they've always been my favourite Dinosaur. Still in the vampires case it was because Khastran, the Demon who created all vampire species was possessing the body of a Tyrannosaurus Rex when he did so.
The magic used to create the Vyrkosaurus however was unstable and dangerous, even for vampires and so these creatures were very rare. Again it said a lot about how much the vampires looked up to the Blue Devil that a Vyrkosaurus was here. It had been brought by a vampire king of a region in South America who had used the Vyrkosaurus to stamp out opposition for decades. He had also been the owner of the two Pterosaurs that had attacked Port Patrick.
Despite the fact that we were literally ants to the undead reptile it still went for us above all else. Vyrkosaurs are completely and utterly loyal to their vampire masters after all.
With one swing of its enormous tail, the Dinosaur sent our little car flying through the air before O'Brien could reverse. The Dinosaur didn't even do us the courtesy of trying to eat us. Instead it simply placed its giant foot on top of our car and slowly started to crush it while we were inside.
As I struggled to crawl free from the roof of the car coming down on me I could hear those hideous bat like creatures cackling in the background.
Help however soon came in the form of the Great Caradon himself, who burst out of the ground from under the Dinosaur, knocking it off balance, though thankfully not on top of us.
The giant shark man had been monitoring our progress for some time and had hoped he wouldn't have to interfere, but evidently he didn't have too much faith in us to escape from that sticky situation it would seem. Not that I had a problem with that.
The shark man picked our car up, ripped it open and gave us a quick scolding for being useless before telling us to stop the resurrection which was almost complete.
He also gave us help in the form of twelve of his Raptors who emerged from the hole in the ground he had come through. The Dinosaurs instantly started to attack the vampires.
Meanwhile the Vyrkosaurus started to engage the Great Caradon in a truly brutal fight. The shark man seemed to have the upper hand at first, tripping the Dinosaur up and delivering a flurry of punches to its stomach, but the giant reptile was seemingly able to shrug off the shark man's attacks and delivered a devastating kick to the Caradon's chest which sent him flying about 50 feet into the lake. It was obvious who was stronger between them, but we didn't have time to worry about the Great Caradon now as ungrateful as that may have sounded.
We made our way into the castle with six of the Raptors, as the others were too busy fighting off the vampires, though as more vampires of numerous different breeds descended on us, five of the Raptors were soon distracted battling the bloodsuckers ,leaving us with just one of the Dinosaurs before we even reached the second floor.
As soon as we made our way to the next level of the castle we were set upon by a hideous white skinned, red eyed vampire, that I am told is known as the Nosferatu breed. One bite from these creatures and you are placed under their thrall for good. Fortunately however, James took care of it with a splash of holy water, which caused the bloodsucker to retreat, though before it could, the Raptor pounced on the vampire, causing both to go tumbling backwards down the stairs.
Before we could help the Raptor however, several more vampires emerged from down the hall and surrounded us. They all belonged to different breeds. One had no eyes, yellowish, orange skin, wore no clothes and had a mouth full of razor sharp teeth too big to fit in its mouth. Incredibly enough, it wasn't even the most repulsive looking one there! Another was bloated, had green slimy, dripping skin, three black eyes like a shark on its forehead, another three that were yellow with a red pupil each, on its stomach and four arms. When I say it was bloated I don't mean he was overweight. I'd never be that judgemental, just to be clear. I mean that literally every single part of his body, from his fingers to his nose, to his stomach, to his teeth were about three times the size of a normal person. It wasn't simply that the creature was giant either. It honestly looked swollen and puffy. Another vampire meanwhile walked on all fours, with a row of spikes down its back and a long, serpentine neck, which the spikes also ran down, with a small oval shaped head and a tuft of yellow hair at the back, two yellow eyes with no pupil, and long, almost silver teeth, fixed into a permanent hideous grin.
Finally the largest there, that appeared to be in charge stood over 7 feet tall and had an incredibly muscular body that was covered in what looked like hair. (In actual fact it was feathers.) Whilst his hands looked more like the talons of a bird of prey, whilst his face was scaly like a reptile, though he had no lips, whilst his long fangs retracted from an otherwise toothless mouth that slabbered constantly.
I think it's safe to say that these types of vampire didn't ever recruit willing people. Sophia was the first to defend herself, throwing a strange chemical over the feathered vampire that made his skin boil.
Meanwhile James and Elizabeth tried to attack the others with stakes, whilst O'Brien held off the serpent vampire with a silver sword.
I quite naturally stood on the sides. I'd have just made things worse had I jumped in, though I did at least provide a distraction of sorts when the serpent necked vampire knocked the sword out of O'Brien's hands. I tried to tackle it like I had done to the vampire near Wigtown, but he was too fast for me and managed to wrap his neck around me like a snake. Up above I could see him open his jaws, wider than my entire head, but luckily O'Brien seized his chance and sliced straight through the vampires neck.
He then asked me if I had been bit and made it very clear that it that thing had sunk its teeth into me he would have killed me straight away, as that breed spreads vampirism through its bite. I knew that it wasn't an idle threat from what I'd seen outside the Smoking Fish, but to be fair to him he asked me to do the same thing if he was bit too. In a way it was quite flattering that he trusted me to slay him if that ever happened. To me it was the first indication that I was ready to join the team rather than just being the load.
A few seconds later the walls of the castle suddenly came smashing down. Two of the vampires who were exposed to the sun, the feathered vampire and the eyeless bloodsucker instantly burned up, whilst the green skinned brute reached for the shadows just in time, though not without gaining some serious burns.
The great Caradon had been knocked straight through the wall of the castle. For a second I thought he was dead as his body was so cut up, though when I looked outside I could see the Tyrannosaurus was as equally roughed up. The Caradon soon got up and charged at the Dinosaur, causing both to go tumbling back into the woods behind. The Caradon actually managed to lift the Dinosaur up over its head for a few minutes before slamming the Dinosaur's spine down on its knee.
For a second I thought the Dinosaur was dead as it lay there motionless, but when the Caradon move a little closer, the Dinosaur used its tail to smash many of the sharks teeth out of its mouth, before tripping it up, after which it then smacked its tail down on the shark several more times.
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As much as I would have liked to continue watching the two beasts clash, we had to press on. Two of the Raptors from below joined us. Sadly that was all that seemed to be left of the group downstairs and outside, but they still seemed to be better off than the vampires at least.
We made our way into the main hall where Higressa was bound to an altar. The bloodsuckers had completed the ritual to restore her to life. (If there was one thing vampires seemed to be experts on, it was raising the dead.)
The leader of this gathering of the undead soon morphed from a red skinned, scaly, yellow eyed, bald headed demon into a human form when we arrived. The funny thing was. I knew him, I'd even looked up to him. His name was Lord David MacKenzie and he was a patron of the arts in the Galloway region. I'd even spoken with him during my last visit in Wigtown. The fact that he could assume a human form unlike the other bloodsuckers and therefore blend in with humanity and gain influence in the real world, was clearly how he had managed to gather the resources to put this plan into action. O'Brien would later tell me that the more human looking vampires, though sometimes looked down on as inferior in the modern world were ironically often the leaders of vampire clans and sects. It was all Lord MacKenzie's plan meanwhile. He had used his resources to find out all he could about the Blue Devil and the old legends of the area, and he had even bought Morton castle a few years back.
There were eight other vampires in total surrounding him, including two more serpentine vampires, two winged vampires, two yellow creatures and two of the green, bloated creatures. They all advanced towards us, whilst the leader assumed his vampire face and prepared to bite Hegressa's neck. The Raptors tackled the two flying vampires, with one of the Raptors actually managing to jump at a flying vampire whilst it was in mid flight, over twenty feet off the ground!
The other members of my team were both cornered by two vampires each, leaving me to face the leader by myself. Well I say face, he didn't even pay me any attention at first. I couldn't help but take it as an insult that I wasn't any kind of threat. I mean I wasn't, but he didn't know that for sure.
To save both my pride and the world, I lifted out my gun and fired at the vampire. I hit him twice in the chest and he didn't even flinch. My third shot however missed and by sheer luck, the bullet fired through the nearest wall of the castle, causing a ray of sunlight to shoot through and catch one of the vampires that was cornering Sophia. Its body instantly caught fire. I then shot more holes in the wall, which scattered the other vampires, apart from the bats. The Raptors however had already dealt with both of them easily, and in the confusion, Sophia freed Hegressa. Unfortunately however the vampires had supressed her bodies ability to harness magics when they resurrected her. She was sure she could break the block, but she would need help to do it.
We headed back down the castle stairs, but on the next floor we were cornered by the white wolvron. I can't believe I'd forgotten about him, considering he was what we followed here. Our two Raptors jumped on him at once but the monster instantly batted them away, sending one outside of a window to its death, before slowly advancing on us.
We all, including me, fired dozens of rounds at the wolvron, but it was too fast and dodged our shots. Still one of the Raptors managed to surprised the wolvron and jumped on its back and dug its claws into the beasts neck as well as clamping its jaws around his skull.
We all opened fire at the wolvron whilst it was distracted with the Raptor, hitting it this time and causing it to slump to its knees, however before we could knock the monster out, another Raptor emerged from the lower level.
The Dinosaur ran our way and we thought it was going to help its comrade, but instead it jumped at Hegressa. It was over in a second as the Dinosaur crushed her skull in its jaws.
This was the Raptor that had fought with the Nosferatu. The vampire had managed to land a bite on the Raptor in the struggle, allowing it to take control of the Dinosaur.
After all we had went through, vampires, Dinosaurs, shark men, seeing our friends, comrades die, literally travelling to hell and back, and it had all been for nothing. Worse all of those people killed to bring this wretched monster back would now be condemned to the vampires hell dimension.
As soon as Higressa was killed the earth, literally began to shake and Morton castle began to crumble.
The wolvron, having been badly wounded jumped through the castle wall, and fled into the woods outside. We soon followed, though we jumped into the lake instead to break our fall.
Only the raptor that had fought with the wolvron appeared to escape the castle besides us and the wolvron. It engaged the Raptor the vampire was controlling in a brief fight before fleeing, with the vampires Raptor subsequently being crushed.
In a matter of minutes not only had Morton's castle collapsed, but the ground had also begun to open, and the Blue Devil soon crawled out, before it sealed up again!
The Blue Devil stood proudly in the sunlight as a sign of his superiority to the other bloodsuckers.
He was over seven foot tall, incredibly muscular, his skin was bright blue, his hair was long and flowing, his eyes, yellow with no pupil and his fangs were massive and white.
He actually looked more human than some of the other brutes all things considered, but right away you could deal there was something different about him. The other vampires, though cocky when they had their prey trapped, or at least thought they had it trapped, had always deep down seemed like desperate creatures, even to me. They came over less as powerful immortals and more blood rats forced to live in the shadows for most of their miserable existence. The way that first pack almost killed each other just to try and rip my throat out proved that. Clearly they weren't used to hunting out in the open as much.
The Blue Devil on the other hand, radiated confidence and arrogance. He looked as though he thought of himself as a god who showed no fear of anything. Even the sight of the Great Caradon and the Vyrkosaurus wrestling with each other in the background made him laugh more than anything else.
He spoke, with a loud, booming, deep voice.
"Caledonia, I see nothing has changed in the centuries I've been gone." He said with a smirk at the sight of the two monsters fighting. Suddenly the Raptor that had escaped Morton castle jumped on him, but not only did the Blue Devil not even react when the Raptors sickle like claws dug into his flesh and drew his disgusting yellow blood. He simply batted the Dinosaur away with one hand into the ruins of the castle, with the impact killing the beast stone dead.
Sophie soon shot the Blue Devil in the head and chest in response, but it did about as much to hurt the former vampire king as the Raptors claws had done.
She then threw holy water at the beast which again did nothing but make it laugh, after which she then lifted out a gold knife, which for the first time made the bloodsucker back away a bit.
"You couldn't hide all of your weaknesses. This changes things now." Before Sophia could even finish, the Blue Devil, despite his size darted towards Sophia as fast as he could and and grabbed her hand holding the knife. He then literally pulled her arm out of its socket, and stabbed one of his hands through her stomach before literally tearing our commander in two.
He then threw her top half into the lake and advanced on us. We all shot at him, but it did nothing, The only thing that stopped him was the the Great Caradon who intervened. Covered in blood and barely standing, the Caradon nevertheless reached out for the blue devil, who not only kept his cool, but roared back at the shark beast, that was soon pulled back by its Dinosaur foe's tail, that wrapped itself around the Caradon's throat like a boa constrictor.
We meanwhile all dived below the water in desperation and fear. It's safe to say that having to swim through Sophia's blood and entrails has probably put me off swimming for life!
When we went back to the surface, the Blue Devil was gone. I'm guessing that he must have felt we weren't worth pursuing and had other things to do? Or maybe he realised that it was a good idea to run away from the big shark man? Whatever the case the Great Caradon was now on his last legs. He'd put up a great fight against the Dinosaur, but the vampires pet Tyrannosaur had proven to be just too strong.
It was now playing with the Great Caradon, allowing the shark to barely haul itself up, only to push it back down. Finally growing tired of its game, the Dinosaur placed its foot on the sharks back and prepared to finish him. We all shot at the Dinosaur but it did nothing. Thinking fast, O'Brien used his zippo to light up the tree next to the Dinosaur, which drew its attention.
We then got in front of the Caradon and continued to fire, with O'Brien telling us to aim for the inside of its mouth as no bullets could penetrate its scales. Unfortunately however the giant Dinosaur was faster than he looked and quick as a flash he scooped up Elizabeth in his mouth and swallowed her whole.
James screamed in anguish, as tears filled his eyes. The Dinosaur then swung its massive tail at us. I only narrowly missed it thanks to O'Brien who pushed me down in time.
Poor James however wasn't fast enough, and the Dinosaurs tail smashed him to a pulp, before nearly coming down on me and O'Brien.
The Tyrannosaur then turned round, jaws open and ready to devour us both. It could have easily chomped us both up at the same time with that frightful set of teeth, but the Caradon having had time to regain his strength, ripped the flaming tree out of the ground and wielded it like a weapon, despite it burning his hands. He smacked the Dinosaur in the face with it three times knocking the giant reptile on its back. The Caradon then used what few teeth it had left to rip a chunk out of the Dinosaurs chest, which it then impaled the still burning tree right through. The Caradon lifted the tree, with the Tyrannosaur on the other end of it, up over its head, whilst the reptillian beast still struggled before it slammed the Dinosaur hard onto the ground. The shark finally, with its remaining teeth bit into the Dinosaurs throat, whilst it was writhing and finished its rival off.
The shark man instantly collapsed after that last bit of adrenaline wore off and for a few minutes we thought he was dead before he crawled back towards the hole in the ground he had made and dropped down it, with the hole then vanishing instantly afterwards.
O'Brien and I got out of there as fast as we could before the fire could spread throughout the forest. Thankfully no one else was in the forest at the time. The Scathach would have a very hard time trying to cover this up. The destruction of a famous castle, a forest fire, and several dead Dinosaurs isn't easily explained.
After O'Brien returned me home, he told me that someone else would be in touch from Scathach soon. He didn't think I was in any immediate danger as with the Blue Devil free, the vampires clearly had bigger fish to fry. Still he told me to keep a low profile which I did for the next few weeks.
Things ironically seemed to quieten down after the Blue Devil's resurrection, or at least I didn't hear anything for the first week or so. I tried to get on with my life as best I could, but how can you after something like that? Every little jump made me scream, anyone who looked at me for longer than a split milisecond I became terrified that they were a vampire wanting to kill me to keep quiet. Everywhere I went I carried a massive crucifix, that I'd make my friends touch all the time, and I'd also make sure to have a bottle of water blessed every day by the local priest (who fortunately knew the truth.)
The week seemed to go on forever, until finally O'Brien and another agent from Scathach arrived at my house, to make sure I wouldn't try and reveal the truth.
O'Brien told me that strangely there had been no sightings of the Blue Devil. There had however been a few sightings of Hegressa's ghost, showing that she hadn't gone back to her own wretched hell dimension yet. The Great Caradon meanwhile was still recovering from his fight. He was deeply embarrassed at his performance. All those years in his garden, he really had felt he'd gone soft and was determined to make up for it. Though what that means for us, I don't know yet.
O'Brien was shocked when I told him I wanted to join Scathach. I guess he felt based on my performance during this whole debacle that I wasn't cut out for this life. It was a little hurtful as I had already killed one vampire, and I stopped them from sacrificing Hegressa. Granted that Raptor killed her two minutes later anyway, but that was as much his fault as mine.
The other agent meanwhile was more willing to give me a chance, as the recent vampire attacks had depleted their numbers all over Scotland. I was given a trial run for a few weeks, where we went after a few vampires. It seems not all of them had been killed in the destruction of Morton castle after all. Lord McKenzie was sadly among those who had escaped.
I killed four more vampires during these hunts. One of them had already been taken down by my partner and I just finished him off. Still that seemed to win me some praise as most people don't have the will to stake a vampire in general. I wonder what that says about me.
After my initial training period was done, it was decided that I was to go to their main office near Aviemore, where the final, more extensive stage of my training would take place. O'Brien sadly wouldn't be joining me, though given he didn't think that I was cut out for it, maybe it was for the best. In spite of what he said however, I feel that he had shown great trust in me during our ordeal and I do hope one day we can work together and he can see I am cut out for this life. O'Brien was sent to their office in Glasgow, which had all but been destroyed by the vampires. Most of their hunters are being sent up to Aviemore in fact, as after a few weeks there has been a sighting of the Blue Devil there. O'Brien was their only senior hunter down in Glasgow to make sure at least someone is manning the post down there. It's most likely that Blue Devil will be preparing an attack on the main office in Aviemore meanwhile.
Tomorrow I will be moving up to the highlands. My accommodation has been set by Scathach. I've got a nice little chalet just outside of Aviemore. Under normal circumstances I'd be thrilled at going to Aviemore. I used to go there all the time when I was a girl. My parents enjoyed holidays there every new year. I know it's a cliche, but there really is no better place to spend the new year than the Scottish highlands. Again though as a young un, my favourite part of it wasn't the beautiful scenery, it was a tacky little amusement park called Santa Claus land. There was one ride on it, the Dinosaur Ride, that was like a haunted house ride where you'd get driven through this dark room with Dinosaurs (obviously) on the wall, roaring. It was just the most thrilling, amazing thing I'd ever seen as a child, I honestly felt like I was seeing real life Dinosaurs. If I went now, I'd probably find it to be either quite tacky, or who knows maybe it would trigger some form of PTSD?
Still clearly this visit to Aviemore won't be all fun and games. I don't mind telling whoever reads this, I'm absolutely terrified. I'm still not sure why I'm going, if it really is to explore this new fascinating world, or to save people, or if it's just to make sure I don't ever feel as scared and trapped as I did in the first week after that ordeal?
Either way like I said at the beginning. Things are changing. The vampires are moving together for something bigger than even the Blue Devil and I want to be there when it happens.
Scathach have assured me that should anything ever happen to me, then this will reach my friends and family who I probably won't be seeing for a long time regardless. (Though you will also be told and threatened if need be not to reveal any of it to the public, not that they'd believe you anyway.) I'm hoping that it won't come to that, and that perhaps one day you'll be able to read this when I am still alive.
Whatever the future may hold however, I know that I and all the other agents in Scathach will give our lives to protect the rest of the world from monsters like the Blue Devil, as Sophia, James and Elizabeth were. Here's also hoping we can also finally free those trapped in his and that monster Hegressa's hell dimension too.