Polly had been forced to bring her troupe out of the cover of the forest and now the six walked down the only road in the valley. Karla brought up the rear of the group, walking barefoot, her boots held in one hand.
 “OK I’m sorry, how was I to know that a six inch heel wasn’t suitable footwear for a mountain forest? It’s not like I broke the heel intentionally Polly, they were my favourite boots.” 
Dagmar looked back at her and grinned. “Did the fact we were heading for the Carpathian Mountains not give you a clue?”

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 “I thought they would have proper paths, like in the park at home.” Karla said in her own defence.
Further conversation was cut off as a number of figures detached themselves from the shadows of the trees. The girls came to a stop and waited while the figures reached the road.
 “Oh look, naked men,” Lisa said with a giggle. 
“Lisa, will you grow up, there’s nothing funny about naked men,” Polly said. 
“She’s got no chance of growing up any more, it would have happened already. You don’t go getting growth spurts after a hundred years of being short,” Serenyty said.
 “Don’t encourage her Serenyty, remember we are on serious business. Isn’t that right Polly?” Karla added.
 “Stop where you are,” one of the men demanded.
 “Wow he’s stupid, we stopped already,”  Heather whispered, shaking her head. 
“Silence woman! You are on private land, turn around or face the consequences.” He continued walking towards them.
 Heather smiled and also took a step forward. “We don’t do turning around, and as for consequences, well my ‘give a damn’ seems to be broken when it comes to consequences.”
The man took another step forward, his face altering and elongating as he began to change. Heather’s gloved hand was thrust forward and a blur of silver flew from her hand to embed itself in the half changed werewolf’s forehead. Before he had even hit the floor, the sisters had their swords drawn. The pack, still in man form stood rooted, too shocked to react as they stared at their dead leader.
“You are in our way. We won’t ask you to move again,” Heather said with a snarl, baring her fangs so all could see. The men slowly began to move to the edge of the road to allow them to pass. As Karla drew even with the last of the men, she paused and looked at him. 
“There are like hundreds of your kind heading this way just behind us, you know why?” 
“Pack war,” he mumbled without meeting her gaze.
She gave him a dazzling smile. “Thanks, we thought it was something our brother had done.” She started walking and then paused again, turning back to them. “Have you considered running? It could be because of the cold, but you lot don’t look very impressive,” she looked down and the group looked embarrassed. A few strategically moved their hands to cover themselves.
“Karla, leave the poor werewolves alone and come on!” Serenyty shouted back laughing, with a wave to the embarrassed pack, Karla set off after her sisters. 

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Since being returned to her own dimension, Alexia had wasted no time reclaiming her crown. Again she reigned unopposed as the Empress of the Fifth Circle, having defeated and devoured ten of the most powerful demons that had risen to predominance in her absence. She now stood in fury, staring at the giant pool before her that reflected the events in the Romanian basement. The succubus had failed her and as the wall of flame that held the traitorous werewolf prisoner went out, he had pounced and torn the head from her unconscious body. Walking down the steps before her throne, she stood next to her high priest who had organised the plan to capture the vampire Eloim.

“You underestimated the vampire.” It was a statement that needed no answer but the priest gave a slight nod of his head. With one hand she gently turned the priest to face her and smiled. “It will not happen again.” She stated, loud enough for the assembly to hear. Then she drove her fist into his abdomen and grabbed hold of his still beating heart. With infinite slowness she pulled and the arteries that fed it severed as she began to pull her hand free of his intestines. The priest crumpled to the floor as Alexia’s bloody hand came clear of his body, his life over. With a smile she took a bite from the heart as it gave a final spasm.

Turning, she walked back up the stairs and returned to her throne where she dropped the half eaten heart on the floor. The hoard of demons fell to their knees and placed their foreheads to the floor. “Have all the siblings of that succubus staked out and flayed alive for the carrion to eat. Let their suffering be a warning to all that I will not accept failure. If that vampire is not delivered to me by the next full moon I will personally remove the heads of every priest and necromancer in this room and see if your novices and apprentices can serve me better!” 
She looked to her left at the only figure still standing, a giant demon who had served her since she first took the crown. In a realm where you could trust no one fully, she trusted him the most. His total lack of guile and limited intelligence was offset by his strength and brutality.  He blindly served her as her champion and executioner. 
“I want every prisoner impaled on the walls, their eyes collected and placed in a bowl before me.”
 “As you wish Empress,” he said in a deep rumbling voice. Then he turned to leave and carry out her bidding.

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Alexia sat and tried to control her anger. She had been looking forward to getting her hands on Eloim. As she imagined the pain she would inflict on him, she felt anticipation not experienced in thousands of years. Now she would have to wait and that was not something she was good at, The vampire’s suffering would never end in punishment for thwarting her yet again. 
“Your Imperial Magnificence, the werewolf moves to destroy your vampire.” The words brought her out of her musings and her head shot up, the fury evident on her face made everyone in the room cower.
“No!” She screamed. “Eloim is mine. My revenge will not be frustrated by a wolf.” 
The speaker cowered down as Alexia turned her full attention on him and started down the steps toward where he stood by the pool. “We can do nothing, the succubus is dead,” he stammered in fear.
“I do not like to be informed that I am helpless, priest.” Alexia told him and grabbed him by the throat to lift him off his feet. She squeezed his neck and felt the bones crumble, then she tossed the limp body to one side.
“I can help,” a new voice cut in. “The magic circle is still intact, there is a spell. I can get you control of the succubus’s body.”
 Alexia turned her attention to the new speaker. “Well Necromancer? Use what you need and be quick. If my vampire is destroyed, you will take his place in facing a thousand years of pain.” 
“You will have a limited time to save the vampire as I can only connect you to the succubus for a short time, her life energy dissipates,” the Necromancer replied.

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The blood used to draw the magic circle burst into flame. From the centre of the circle, black smoke began to rise, curling with a life of its own. Quickly it began to move towards the headless corpse of the succubus and engulfed it, flowing through the skin. As more smoke entered, it began to take on the shape of the missing head, becoming thicker and more solid. Within moments the smoke solidified into the features of Alexia and as the eyes shot open, red fire filled the sockets. Life returned to the succubus and she sat up to look around the room. After a moment, she gave a scream and sprang to her feet, and headed for the stairs.  

 Eloim picked up the only thing within reach, a foot long section of a branch and looked at it in disgust. The werewolf crept forward on all fours, its giant mouth open as though grinning.
“How about we play fetch?” Eloim asked and threw the stick over towards the tree line. His heart sank as the werewolf ignored him and then a second werewolf appeared, picked up the stick and snapped it. As Eloim watched, more werewolves walked out of the trees until more than thirty stood behind Oliver’s uncle. Eloim edged toward the door, thinking to try and get back inside. As he placed his hand on the edge of the door frame, he saw the werewolves take a step backwards, growls coming from their throats. Carefully, he pulled his hand back and looked towards the door as the succubus walked out. Well it was the body of the succubus he decided, still dressed as the sexy nun, but the head was that of the demon Alexia. Eloim took a sideways step away from her as she turned her head to look directly at him. Her eyes blazed with red fire. Black smoke flowed from her hand to solidify into the form of her giant sword.
“You are mine Eloim, and until I come to claim you, I will allow none to harm you,” her words were spoken quietly but echoed as though screamed from a great distance.

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 Eloim stood rooted in fear and could only nod as her eyes of fire burned into him. Eloim watched as she walked towards the pack of werewolves. Taking a grip of her sword in both hands, her wings flared out and she seemed to grow larger, to equal even the height of Oliver’s uncle. uncle. The werewolves spread out as she approached, getting ready to attack this unexpected threat. Oliver’s uncle growled and leapt towards her but with blinding speed, Alexia swung her sword and sliced him in two. Before his body hit the floor, Alexia was past him and had cut down a further two members of the pack. Severed limbs and heads began to fly as the werewolves attacked, trying to get close to the demon. None could manage to get past the terrible black sword. In minutes it was over, and Alexia stood alone upon the road littered with body parts.
“Like I said Eloim, you belong to me. I will return soon to claim you and drag you back to the fifth circle where I have some special delights to show you,” Alexia announced, picking up the severed head of the werewolf leader.
 “Can I just say, you totally own that look, very hot,” Eloim said, forcing a smile, still terrified but falling back on bravado.
Alexia paused, unsure for a moment, and looked down at her borrowed body. “I shall wear it especially for you when I have dragged you to hell.” 
“Would you be real mad if I declined? There is a big age gap between us,” Eloim replied as he frantically looked around for an escape route.
“Not yet!” Alexia suddenly screamed at the sky. She pointed her sword towards Eloim. “You are on borrowed time vampire, you are mine.”
 The body of the succubus began to shake as the black smoke started to escape and the head became less solid with each moment.  A hot wind suddenly blew down the road and took the smoke with it, leaving silence except for the noise of the headless body hitting the ground. Eloim slid down the wall, a sigh of relief escaping as he looked at the scene of the massacre before him. 

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Hearing a groan from where Oliver lay, he looked over to see the werewolf prince grinning at him.
“Well you kept your head down there werewolf,” Eloim accused.
 “Do you blame me? Remember I’m her missing sacrifice and she just turned my uncle’s pack into diced wolf. I just didn’t want to be noticed in case she fancied carrying out her spell. What happened to uncle’s head? She was holding it,” Oliver asked, looking at the empty hand of the succubus. He sat up suddenly and cocked his head to the side listening. “Someone’s coming.”
Eloim scrambled to his feet and walked over to pull Oliver up. The two stared down the road where six figures rounded the corner at a run. “That looks like Polly and Heather, and the short one has to be Lisa,” Eloim said in surprise. Then, as they got closer, he smiled. “Karla, Serenyty and Dagmar too, wow I got a rescue mission sent for me.”
As the sisters got closer, they slowed their pace, finally coming to a slow walk as they looked at the body parts strewn all over the road and at the two young men standing outside the house.
“Eloim, what the hell did you do this time?” Polly asked, moving a severed werewolf head to one side with the tip of her boot. 
The others seemed just as bewildered as they looked around. “There must be around thirty dead werewolves here,” Heather said. “My ‘give a damn’ just started working, tell us.”
 “It’s not our fault, is it?” Eloim began, and he looked at Oliver.
“We didn’t do anything, well technically you did kill the brothers upstairs Eloim,” Oliver said, taking a step behind Eloim as the girls advanced on them.
 “Oh dear, the werewolves have their own version of Eloim,” Karla said, shaking her head. 
“Only he doesn’t like to wear clothes,” Lisa added, pointing out Oliver’s nakedness. He blushed and moved further behind Eloim.
“So who killed all those werewolves then Eloim?” Polly demanded.
 “That is a question I would like answered too, I’ve been finding dead werewolves for the last fifty miles,” a voice boomed from behind them.
 The girls spun around as one, drawing their swords and dropping into a crouch. Across the road, the woods were full of eyes glinting in the dark. A man walked forward out of the trees. 
“Cold or not, this one is impressive,” Karla whispered to Lisa, and both giggled.
 The man ignored the comment. “Oliver, it is not fitting for the son of the Alpha to be hanging around with vampires who have illegally entered our territory.”

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Oliver stepped out from behind Eloim. “Sorry dad, but it’s not really their fault. Uncle kidnapped Eloim to use as a bribe to get a demon to help him overthrow you. Eloim escaped and then set me free and stopped them sacrificing me to open the portal.”
 The Alpha considered his son’s words for a moment before replying. 
“An interesting story that I would hear in full, but that does not explain why the female vampires are here without our leave.”
 “We came to get our brother,” Polly said stepping forward.
“You must care a great deal for him to risk a war with werewolf-kind, vampire,” the Alpha replied, looking directly at Polly.
 “Not that much, I came for the boots he stole; you can keep him once I get my boots back. He’s nothing but trouble,” Polly answered with a smile.
 “It is almost dawn. You and your people can spend the daylight hours inside the tower. We will talk again when the sun sets. I will have learnt what happened by then and decided what I am to do with you.” The Alpha indicated that his son should join him as he turned back towards the trees.
Polly turned back to Eloim. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, come on let’s get inside.”
 “It’s not my fault Polly, honest,” Eloim insisted. 
Heather walked past him and slapped the back of his head. “You always say that, now come on,” the smile she gave him took the sting out of her words. 
Eloim was the last to enter the tower and stood by the door looking nervous. 
“What’s up Eloim? You look terrified,” Heather said.
“This place, what they planned to do downstairs,” Eloim said, looking at where the steps sank down to the underground chamber.
 “Don’t worry about it, Polly’s checking down there with Serenyty.” 
“She tried to open a gateway to come back and get me Heather; she says I belong to her.”
 “Stop worrying, now who are you talking about?” Heather asked walking back to him, Serenyty came running up stairs.
“Heather you need to look at this, me and Polly can’t make head or tail of it.” 
Suddenly the tower shook and a blast of hot air knocked Serenyty from her feet, instantly followed by a fireball of blue flame. Eloim reacted first and was past Heather before she could grab him. He ran down the stairs, almost slipping down the last of the stone steps. He burst into the chamber and looked around; Heather was just a step behind. 

The room was empty apart from the dying flames where the portal circle had been. 
“Polly!” Eloim shouted, running to check behind the stone altar, the only spot in the room not visible. “Where is she Heather?” 
Heather came up behind him and grabbed hold of him. “She’s not here anymore Eloim, she’s gone.”
 “Gone where?” Eloim asked, distraught.
 “She’s gone where we cannot follow.” She dragged Eloim back up the stairs, wanting to get out of the basement in case the demonic fire returned.
“But they didn’t get the sacrifice to open the portal Heather, I saved Oliver. She didn’t get the royal blood.” Eloim finally said as they reached the ground floor.
 “I don’t think the portal opened, Eloim, those flames would destroy our kind,” Heather’s words trailed off.

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The vampires had spent the daylight hours barricaded in the top room of the tower. As soon as the sun sank behind the mountains, they headed outside to wait, not willing to spend any more time within the tower. Within minutes, the Alpha walked down the road, clothed in an expensive suit. Heather stood up and walked to meet him and they stood talking. Eloim sat despondent, not hearing or caring. Finally the Alpha walked over and knelt before him.
 “I have spoken with your Father, he has dispatched a helicopter to pick you up, it will be here soon to take you home. I am sorry for the events today, to have one taken is hard.” 
“She wasn’t taken, that demon destroyed her, I stopped the sacrifice and this is how she gets her own back,” Eloim said quietly, bloody tears filling his eyes.
The Alpha sat back and cocked his head to one side. “No vampire, the demon got her royal blood, the missing sacrifice was my brother. She took his head back to hell with her. The demon has taken your sister, now you need to return home and work out how you get her back.”
 Eloim looked up into the Alpha’s yellow eyes. “Polly’s alive? Then I need to start planning. I’m going to need the most amazing outfit ever if I’m to break into hell.”

THE END. 

Well until book 3 where Eloim begins his search to rescue Polly.

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Thanks for reading, upvotes and comments welcome.

Part 1: https://steemit.com/writing/@alienbutt/the-missing-sacrifice-part-1-vampire-eloim-the-2nd-short-story
Part 2: https://steemit.com/writing/@alienbutt/the-missing-sacrifice-part-2-vampire-eloim-the-2nd-story
Part 3: https://steemit.com/writing/@alienbutt/the-missing-sacrifice-part-3-vampire-eloim-the-2nd-story
Part 4: https://steemit.com/writing/@alienbutt/the-missing-sacrifice-part-4-vampire-eloim-the-second-story
Part 5: https://steemit.com/writing/@alienbutt/the-missing-sacrifice-part-5-vampire-eloim-the-second-story