MY SUGAR MUMMY IS A BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE

Chapter 248: Blood is the key

As the video drew to a close, Tessa felt a renewed sense of determination coursing through her veins. She had put off this quest for answers long enough. It was time to follow the breadcrumb trail her father had left behind, no matter where it might lead.

With a heavy sigh, Tessa closed her laptop and surveyed the room one last time. Her gaze lingered on the framed photograph of her and her father, taken during happier times. A pang of sorrow tugged at her heart, but she steeled her resolve.

"I'll find out what happened to you, Dad," she murmured, as if making a solemn vow. "Even if it's the last thing I do."

Following her father's meticulous notes and hand-drawn maps, Tessa soon found herself trekking up the winding trails of the towering mountain that loomed over the island. The humid air clung to her skin like a second skin, but she pressed on, driven by a singular purpose.

As she climbed higher, the verdant foliage gave way to bare rock and ashen slopes. Tessa paused, wiping the sweat from her brow as she took in the sight before her – the yawning maw of an ancient volcano, its caldera stretching out like a gaping maw.

Drawing a deep, steadying breath, Tessa consulted her father's journal once more. According to his notes, the entrance to his secret laboratory lay somewhere within the volcano's depths.

With a newfound determination, she began picking her way down the treacherous slopes, her footsteps echoing off the rocky walls. The air grew thick and stale, the stench of sulfur stinging her nostrils as she delved deeper into the belly of the beast.

Just when Tessa was beginning to doubt the accuracy of her father's directions, she spotted it – a narrow fissure in the rock face, barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through. This had to be the entrance.

Steeling her nerves, Tessa wedged herself into the crevice, her heart pounding in her ears as the darkness closed in around her. She fumbled for her flashlight, sweeping the beam back and forth as she inched her way forward.

What she saw next made her breath catch in her throat. The crude, natural tunnel gave way to a man-made cavern, its walls smoothed and reinforced with sturdy timbers and metal supports. This was no natural formation – someone had been here before, carving out this subterranean sanctuary.

As Tessa ventured deeper into the labyrinthine complex, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, unseen eyes tracking her every move. The tunnels branched off in multiple directions, like the tendrils of some vast, underground network.

Consulting her father's map once more, Tessa traced a path through the winding corridors, her heart hammering in her chest. She had come too far to turn back now, no matter what lay ahead.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity underground, Tessa emerged into a vast, cathedral-like chamber. Her flashlight beam danced across the cavernous space, illuminating a scene that made her blood run cold.

Rows of crude cots lined the walls, their tattered mattresses stained with dark, rust-colored splotches that could only be dried blood. Tessa fought back a wave of nausea as she took in the grisly sight, her mind reeling with the implications.

"Where they tested the solution dad was preparing," she noted seeing the old rumpled bed linens covered in blood.

As she pressed on, her light fell upon a heavy metal door, its surface etched with a series of cryptic symbols and words. As she studied the door, her gaze lingered on a small round object by the keyhole.

It resembled an actual key, but upon closer inspection, Tessa noticed a depression that resembled a shallow bowl or receptacle.Curiosity piqued, Tessa reached out tentatively, her fingers hovering over the strange object.

She tried to turn the object stuck in the door around but it wouldn't bulge.

"It's stuck. Who leaves a key in a door that won't work?!" She said frustratingly.

She looked around and found nothing else in sight. Whatever it was that brought her to this island, she felt it had to be something hidden from the world's eyes. After all vampires had kept their existence a secret for so long.

"What do these symbols even say," Tessa squinted, struggling to make out the inscription:

"Sanguis, flumen aeternum, ferrum purgat, reliquias aevi praeteriti." Tessa read aloud. "This is Latin," she noted.

She understood a bit of Latin herself. Something she had done during bored hours as a teen. Although not a major language anymore, she found it intriguing especially how a lot of deep philosophies stemmed from it.

"Blood, the eternal flow, cleanses rust, the relic of ages past," she said, translating what the Latin words meant. They appeared to have been carved on the door quite a while ago. But who would write something like this in such a place and why?

This was the exact door her father claimed they weren't allowed in. A riddle, then – a final test, perhaps, guarding whatever secrets lay beyond that forbidding portal.

Wait, it was quite straight forward. The answer struck her like a bolt of lightning – blood. Blood was the key, the precious commodity that seemed to hold such importance in her father's work.

With trembling fingers, Tessa withdrew a pocketknife from her pack and sliced a shallow cut across her palm. Gritting her teeth against the sting, she let some of the blood drip onto the key.

As Tessa poured some of her blood into the key compartment, the writings on the door suddenly ignited with a red glow. She watched in astonishment, a shiver running down her spine as the eerie red light bathed the chamber.

For a moment, nothing happened.

"Wait, that's it?" She muttered. She expected the door to slide open wide but none of that happened.

With trembling hands, Tessa turned the key in the small round object by the keyhole then a low rumble filled the air as the mechanisms within the door began to groan and creak.

Suddenly, a series of loud cracks echoed through the chamber as the door's ancient locks began to give way. The ground beneath Tessa's feet shook violently, dust and debris raining down from the ceiling as the massive door slowly began to swing open.

Tessa stood frozen, her heart pounding in her chest as she stared at the now gaping entrance before her.

Tessa's heart leapt into her throat as she stepped over the threshold, her flashlight beam cutting through the gloom. What she saw made her blood run cold.