"It isn't a ritual I have memorized off the top of my head," Madoka said simply. "I have some treatises on the process, but most of them are second hand accounts. The full ritual, thank the heavens, is difficult to come across."
Madoka stood up and walked to the computer and typed in the command to open the way to the secret cellar. Yohko coughed a little as they came down into the cellar.
"We're going to need to clean down here again soon," Madoka said, frowning.
Yohko nodded, waving at the dust clouds, the cellar and archives were almost a constant chore, but they couldn't risk any harm to the documents below...or some of the seals. Fortunately, from Yohko's perspective, Azusa seemed to enjoy the activity.
"Over here," Madoka said, uncovering a set of old, European books and bringing them out into the main part of the cellar. "The last known demonic vampire was Prince Vlad Tepes, better known as Dracula. He is currently sealed, hopefully destroyed finally. These books are reprints of a set of journals. This one being of his wife, and these being of the Belmont family."
"Who are they?" Yohko asked.
"Our European counterparts," Madoka said. "The whip Ayako uses was a combination of our families' arts long ago."
She opened one of the Belmont books, coughing a little at the dust that erupted from it.
"The Soul Hunter," Madoka read. "Known as the nosferatu in the stretches of Eastern Europe, the grendel in the North, ghul in Arabia, gaki in the East...hmm, he generalized there...wendigo in the Americas and rakshasha in the India colony. These are men that have sold their souls for power and eternal life, becoming monstrous creatures that feed on the flesh and blood of the living. Their powers are many and varied, each being unique, but for now we need only be concerned with the powers of Vlad Dracul..."
Madoka paused and scanned the pages for a bit of time.
"They were only concerned with that one?" Yohko said. "Isn't that short-sighted?"
"Said the pot to the kettle," Madoka muttered. Yohko's mouth twitched irritably. "These are rare occurences...they only had experience with Vlad Dracul and so they only make occasional references to tales of other such madmen. Ah...here we are..." She cleared her throat and continued reading. "It is said that Vlad Dracul chose his wife for certain abilities she possessed that shadowed what he later became and used her heart in the ritual to transform himself. Among other things, including the blood of the dragon for which he is named, and the skin of a garou."
"Dragons and 'garou'?" Yohko repeated.
"A werewolf," Madoka explained. "And I doubt it means a magical dragon, but probably some other human variant. The Belmonts speak of fueling the ritual with the souls of the victims. They don't seem to write more of the ritual." Madoka turned to the journal of the vampire's wife.
"She speaks of captives, and cruel deaths," Madoka said reading. "A witch, a warrior, a 'bestial' person that is probably the werewolf and somebody 'snakish' that is probably the dragon. Werewolves have never been common, even among the throwbacks, in this area...kitsune might be an effective substitution if there aren't any around.""
"Witches," Yohko said. "That's us, isn't it?"
"No," Madoka said. "Our magic is too limited and specialized...we're the warriors."
See other episodes by Thrythlind
(Posted Tue, 20 May 2003 10:06)
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