Mass swarms of vampires flew over head, though they didn't notice us. Darren raced to join us whilst the moonlight shone through the gaps of the winged creatures until the last one had dissappeared into the castle, leaving the moon shining down onto us.

Alot of people started with us, and only Captain Warner, Darren Blank and myself were left here.

"Look," I said pointing to the moon with a finger "it never changes to sunlight, we've been here hours and still the the moon shines down. Down upon the trees of the dark woods and reflecting off the slimly bricked castle walls."

We waited a while in silence and then we heard a small noise near the the huge castle door...

I looked across to the castle door.

"It could be Mister Johns and Bruce Freedom right?" I asked, more to myself then anyone else, "It could be them though right?"

I held my breath... the door was opening... I gripped my pistol...

The large caslte doors opened and I stepped out and took a deep breath. I looked into the sky and saw the swarm of vampires flying overhead.



I smiled.

There, flying up so high, were the greatest killing machines in history. And to think that the Queen was the mother to them all! It made me proud. Very proud.

Devil Island was more then a home to me. It was my herritage.

I hated the fact that somewhere on this island, people were roaming, trying to stop the Queen. Luiq-Ruin had told us about the Axe of Lunea. How powerful it had been. What was their game? I wondered, thinking of Lunea itself. Why had they sent the axe to a pirate? That Axe should have been safe for eternity... safe in the hands of another... another that I have not seen for many years.

I took another deep breath, turned and re-entered the castle...

We sat in a fearful silence as the muscular hooded man walked back in. I slowly turned my gaze towards Adrian and Darren, they were tainted with an expression or unease.

The mysterious man looked like an executioner or mass murderer, I know their kind when I lay my eyes upon them. I once was down a path similar to theirs.

"Adrian, nows our chance!" I whispered "We could enter whilst the doors are still open, slaying that man on the way. Johns and Bruce my already be dead!" I looked closer at them "I can see your fear but we can take him, trust me!"

I agreed with Pete. This was our chance! The door was closing but it was not shut.

"Alright let's do this," I whispered, "but we're going to have to work together and quickly! On the count of three... one... two... three!"

We rushed forward and I just managed to grab the large door before it shut. Slowly, Pete and I opened the door and looked into the darkness beyond, weapons ready.

There was no sign of the large hooded man.

"Lets move" I said.

We entered the castle...

I turned to Darren and motioned for him to run, he caught up and we cautiously stepped forward.

"I don't like the feel of this, how did that hooded man get away so fast?" I whispered. I went to my scabard and pulled, then I realised my Sword was still gone.

"Does anyone have a weapon I could use? I feel uneasy without one." I said.

We slowly came through the darkness, I started to wonder what part of the castle we would be in. I was not looking forward to more werewolfs, or certainly not vampires.

I reached into my boot and pulled out a thin, but fairy long knife and passed it to Pirate Pete.

"Here you," I said, "take it... I have a feeling that you're going to need it!"

We entered the castle and looked around. It was so dark it was almost impossible to see anything.
We felt very open to attack. We had no idea what could suddenly jump out at us from the darkness.

"What exactly is our plan?" I asked, breaking the deathly silence, "We have come in here to kill the Queen right? Well... thats my plan anyway. I am sure that she is the one responsible for the destruction of my ship and the death of my crew. I will get revenge!"

"Agreed! I shall help you get revenge, I too seek blood. We must defeat the Queen and take back what is rightfully ours!" I strongly put my arm onto Darren's back and then looked at both him and Adrian
"I shall not leave this island without my scimitar, and if I need to kill to get it, I will defeat any creature on this earth to get it back" I noticed that I was shouting and brought down my tone

We approached a large spiraling staircase that was lit by candle light. It went straight upwards, the walls had a red tint from the flickering lights. This could be the way up to a tower, from the outside I saw many towers each on different parts of the castle.
We stopped at the bottem and looked up for a while, considering weither to take the path at the risk of our lifes.

I looked up the stairs. It was dark and quiet. Almost too quiet.

"Listen," I said to the others, "this is not a missin to kill anyone. Understood? When or if we come across this Queen then we are here to talk to her. That is all! She has several of our crew members and we have to get them back! We are not murderers!"

As I said this I glanced to Pete.

"We are good people," I continued, "we must remember that. If we give in to things like revenge... then what will we become? As bad as the vampires no doubt."

I loaded and cocked my Blunderbuss and patted the sword in my belt.

"Let us go up this staircase... see where it lead to. Even if its just to look out of a window and fianlly get a view over this land..."

We began to climb the dark spiral stairs, ready for whatever we would find...

(continued in Vampire Tower)

(continued from forest)

The huge castle loomed in front of us. We stared at it in shock. It was an ugly looking building and the bodies of those that had been killed in it were hanging from large spikes around its top.

We saw the large doors. They were slightly open. I began to think about Captain Warner and the others. I wondered if they ever made it here. If they met with the Queen? If they were still alive?

"What now?" I asked the others, "Do we go into the castle? Or would we be better off staying out here?"