Chapter 153 - Right Under You Nose

…Anastasia POV…

They have brought me to what seems to be like a basement. My eyes have been blindfolded so I have no idea exactly where I am. What does strike me, though, is that it has some oddly familiar smell which I am unable to place at the moment.

At the moment, Lucius is now starting to show signs that he is ready to make his arrival, but yet there is something that they are waiting for.

Now I am not complaining, for I truly do not want to see this birth through, that is, if I am going to survive it. But as he is reminding me so often about whenever I try to resurface, he has made it quite clear that I shall not survive this.

Well, I guess that is just one thing that I have to start accepting, though I wish that Sebastian was here. I do not wish for him to see me dying; I just would have like to say my goodbyes.

As for my own goodbyes, by the way, that Lucius is ripping my insides out, from the inside, I wish that it would come soon.

But just as this thought runs through my mind, I start hearing an unexpected scuffle.

…Sebastian POV…

Never did I see the day that three Hunters, three Vampires, and a Wizard make their way in church. Well, Breyden is not debatable, but as for us, well, our lives are pretty questionable.

Now we are not here for confession, and that we make very clear as we burst through the doors and start making our way around looking for the basement. 

A very nervous-looking priest, who can sense the very evil that we are, only stands aside and shows us in the direction.

As we find the winding stairs that take us to the darkness down below, I cannot help but start feeling nervous. I do not know what to expect, but all I know is that I wish for is to see Anastasia.

If Morgana is right, then Anastasia is due to go into labor within the next following hours, before the next day has come. So finding Anastasia has now become urgent.

So as we get to the doors that lead into the basement, we can see that there is light on, which makes us believe that they are indeed down here. 

Now there is only one way in here, so we all shall be going in at once, except Lilith and Morgana that shall carry the blood and potion. We are hoping that it is only Elloise with Stefan that is by Anastasia. The last thing we wish for now is to be fighting a bunch of demons.

But if I take by the reaction of the terrified priest upstairs, then I believe that he has seen far worse than us tonight. 

With that in mind, we arm ourselves once more, and slowly but small hesitating but soft determined steps, we make our way into the passage that shall lead into the opening of the basement in the middle. 

Connor, who is the first to go, turns to the rest of our group and softly whispers, "This is no time for heroes. We do this back to back together. If they overpower one of us, then they overpower us all."

I then turn to Lilith and Morgana and give them each a weapon, "Use this if you have to, but do not leave our sight for one minute."

Back at the front, Connor signals, and we all move forward. Much to our own horror, though, the basement is wet, and our feet are making squishing sounds as we go, though what can be seen as a relief, although it is not, is the skies above are rumbling far greater for anyone to hear.

Unlike a Vampire basement, this one does not have the smell of rotting flesh or dry blood on the walls; this one, in fact, seems to smell like nothing at all. 

We should at least smell a demon from a mile away.

This does trouble me, though.

But I put this aside and push forward at a slow torturous pace. We cant particularly storm in like a bunch of Vikings and let everything rip loose, even though I would love to. So step by step, hunched together, we crawl towards the main opening of the basement. 

Then the moment we approach the corner, Connor shows for all of us to stop. He makes some strange obscene gesture with his hand, which I am assuming means 'Let us go get them.'

And that is what we do; we rip loose and storm for the entry.

…Anastasia POV…

There are the most godawful noises coming from deep within the basement. I have heard these noises before, and I know exactly what this wall now does hold.

Demons.

That is what has been falling from the skies for the past several hours. 

Lucius has been speaking of his army that he is building, and I am going to safely assume that these are some of them. The reason why they are down here is not known, for there is so much of a scuffle and screams going around that it is hard to say.

But let us put that aside. 

There is this incredible pain that I am feeling deep within my belly. It is so overwhelming that it feels like the world is disappearing, and the only thing that exists is this pain.

I can hear Lucius let out this terrifying laugh, for he knows exactly what he is doing, and it is scaring me shitless.

It is like he is scraping away at my insides with a hot butter knife. My body feels as if it is being pricked by a thousand dull needles, most of all my lower back.

With every agonizing scream I make, the monster just continues on laughing.

I don't know what is happening. It feels like a bowling ball has landed full force on my spine and is rolling up and down my spine, crushing it the whole way. Then finally, it comes to land on my pelvic area.

…Sebastian POV…

As we step around the corner…nothing.

The basement is empty. 

Once again, a dead end. But this is the last dead end. Where can Anastasia be then? Bobby did say there were three places. Well, he needs to check again.

"Bobby, check that thing of yours again."

With that, Bobby takes out his map and the pendulum; after say a short chant, we all watch as it starts moving. Now to say that it is not a slower than a snail would be an understatement. But yet we sit, and we look at this thing spin around and around in circles.

After what seems to be almost five long agonizing minutes, Bobby looks at me with a rather weird expression on his face. I cock my head and look at him, rather annoyed.

"What is the matter, Bobby?"

He points to the location on which the pendulum has stopped. It takes me a few glances and even confirmation from Edward that my eyes are not deceiving me. 

Then, I can't help but feel a fit of anger build up in me, but I know that it is not one of us present here's fault. So I calmly ask Bobby, "My dear Bobby, are you telling me that Anastasia is in the basement below the Belmont Mansion?"

"Yes, Sebastian. They have seemed to have taken her there."

"How long have they been there?"

"All this time, they never left the house."

Now, I do not wish to know how he even got this wrong, but he only explains it as a spell cast by Elloise. My only question now is, why are they allowing us to find them. And then my second question is, why my basement?

That is when Edward looks at me, concerned, "Sebastian, the pentagram. They are going to use the pentagram."

I watch as Connor's face goes even paler than that of Ethan. After a few seconds, he looks at me with eyes that I can truly not place.

"Sebastian, what are you doing with a pentagram underneath your house?"

"It previously belonged to a bunch of witches. They were resurrecting all kinds of evil, so Edward and I killed them and then took residence in the house. Lucius must have found out about this."

"Well," Ethan says, "It seems that the skies are the least of our worries right now."

"Then best we get there, Ethan, for I have seen what evil has walked through the doors there."

But then Connor adds, "I am starting to worry that we are not enough in numbers to take on this army that Lucius is building."

"Then what are you saying Connor," I ask him, rather concerned.

"We need to get some help down here."

"What help are you suggesting."

"God, I don't know. It is not like I have a hotline to the ghostbusters or something."

"What about the Vampire army? Or your Hunter friends?"

"Anyone we can get," Connor says. "They will be protecting Lucius in their numbers."

Then Morgana speaks, "I suggest that you get that help rather soon; I sense that Anastasia has gone into labor."