The Knights Of Blood. Vampire Eloim Book 4, part 1.

PRESENT DAY
Karla held the blazing torch aloft and she followed her brother Junior down the stairwell to the lower basements of their home. Their family lived in a sprawling underground network of rooms and passages underneath a city in Scandinavia. The weather may not be the greatest, but the longer winter nights made up for that. She was not happy to be down there in the lowest levels and Junior's refusal to tell her what he was searching for increased her bad mood. Reaching the bottom of yet another set of stairs, she looked with disgust at the long dark tunnel that stretched out before them, water covering the floor.

“Junior, you seriously don't expect me to wade through that do you?” Karla asked, aghast at the thought of ruining her boots.
“Don't worry,” Junior said stepping off the step into the water. “It's only a couple of inches deep and the door we want is just the fourth on the right.”
“I'm not going any further until you tell me what the hell this is all about.” Karla replied. “And why did you insist on this stupid burning torch thing instead of the battery ones we have? Do you realise how bad it smells, plus I’m sure it's singed my hair with all those stupid burning bits that keep dropping off.”
Junior turned to face his sister and shrugged. “It's just the old fashioned torches remind me of my youth, and you have to admit that it makes this seem more of an adventure.”
“I've had enough of adventures, your brother saw to that.” Karla said angrily.

Junior could see the pain she still felt when the subject of Eloim was mentioned, even after two years, the hole left by their missing brother was an open wound felt by all the family.
“OK, I’ll explain what we’re doing. Have you ever wondered why Father insists on having such an extensive library? Why he insists that we all study history and if we have a problem and go to him, his response is always the same, he tells us the answers can be found in the past?” Junior said, waving his arm dramatically in a circle as he ended with the quote from his father.
“I just thought it was that he didn't know or that he was just wanting to get rid of us. We all know he doesn't do solving problems unless he can do it with a sword in his hand.” Karla answered, still not happy.
“Well that could be partly true but also it's down to our father’s sire; who he was.” Junior said with a smile as he saw a flicker of interest from Karla.
“You know who sired Father?” She whispered. “How did you find out?”

“There are over fifty rooms down here, all full of books and scrolls. The oldest are down the far end and date back to the Egyptian empire, and many of them pre-date the Egyptian era and were brought from older empires. Anyway in the first room is everything that was saved from the Library of Alexandria.” Junior grinned as if that was something that should be the most exciting thing in the world. “The final librarian saved the most important scrolls and headed out to sea when Pope Theophilus ordered the final destruction of the library in 391 AD. He came to the wilds of Scandinavia and made a deal with a local lord to protect his cargo. In return for protecting the library, he gave the lord immortality. The Lord was our father and it was the librarian who turned him. The reason our father was sired by the librarian was so he could protect the books and knowledge down through the centuries and father has been adding to those scrolls ever since.”
“Fascinating but you could have told me that upstairs, I didn't need to wade through a half flooded corridor to hear the story.” Karla said, her annoyance returning as she realised she wasn’t so interested in who her grandfather had been.
“That isn't why I brought you down here, I know you well enough to know your eyes glazed over half way through what I just said. The reason you’re here is this: I've just read an old English scroll from the seventeenth century that mentioned the appearance of a strange unknown vampire.” Junior said; his excitement building.
“Yes the nameless vampire that fought and defeated the Knights of Blood who had been systematically destroying vampire clans all over Europe. I know our folklore and legends, Junior and that one is a fairy tale. A vampire of unknown clan who appeared during the great purge of England and fought the Knights alone, neither was ever seen again.” Karla replied, her boredom growing to the point of no return as she turned to walk back up the stairs.

“Wait,” Junior said. “What I read was a letter where this vampire told of an accidental meeting where he spoke at length with the strange vampire and the fact the stranger had a clan. He named two of his sisters as they talked. The first was named Karla but this is the surprise, the second was named Polly and the vampire claimed she had been taken from him by a demon queen.”

Karla stopped dead and spun back to Junior; a look of confusion on her face. What she had heard was too much of a coincidence.
“The vampire who wrote the letter also wrote a collection of journals, I checked on the library database and Father has them in a room just down there.” Junior said excitedly, pointing behind him. “I think we may be about to find out what happened to Eloim, somehow I suspect he's ended up in the past.”
Karla strode forward pushing Junior to one side as she started down the corridor. “What room do we want? If you are right, when we find him, I'll make him wish he had been dragged into the demon realm.” Karla stopped and turned back to Junior. “And why hasn't anyone worked this out before now?”
Junior stood and watched Karla as she turned again to stride down the corridor. “Because I only just found the letter in a stack of papers that hadn't been catalogued and the journals are in a room full of unprocessed books, the database just says Jieller Wilkham, five journals.”
Karla stopped again and looked around. “Which room?” she demanded. “And who is Jieller Wilkham?”
Junior indicated a room to her right. “He's the vampire that spoke to Eloim.”

And there ends part 1, hope you enjoyed it, please upvote if you did.
Images are all mine.
comments welcome.