Asha led her up the stairs and said, “It’s a fifteenth-century house once owned by an Italian nobleman with a keen interest in the occult.”

“I see. Interesting.”

Asha led her into the entrance hall. There were guards standing at attention at the stairs and the doors. The walls had centuries-old paintings, and tapestries hung from the walls. Despite being an ancient being, Anka’s taste never ran to reminders of the past. She was a forward-looking person who enjoyed the latest technologies and the trappings of whatever century she was in.

“I hope there is more than these dusty old relics, Asha.”

Asha smiled. “Much more, Madam. Follow me.”

Asha led her down a long hallway.

“Was this place empty?” Anka asked.

“Not quite, Madam, but the owner was persuaded to sign the house over to you.”

Persuaded conjured up so many powerful images that made Anka smile.

They arrived at a locked door in the hall. Asha used his key and opened the door. This revealed a padlocked metal door.

“Down here is what makes this place special, Madam.”

“Show me,” Anka said. She followed Asha down the stairs to another door, and that opened into tunnels lit by torches on the wall. This was starting to look up.

Asha started to fill Anka in on the history of the place. “The first owner had the house built here because of this cave system. He was fascinated with the occult and had many friends come down here to take part in rituals and dark magic.”

Anka could feel the dark energy seeping out of the very walls. The death, the destruction, the endless delicious pain. The tunnel led them into a big open room, and Anka felt a current of electrical energy course through her body, meaning her lord and master was not too far away.

The room was set up almost like a church, with seats to watch and take part in ceremonies, and at the head of the room was a stone altar with candles lit all around it. Behind the altar, human bones were embedded into the wall.

“This looks perfect, Asha.”

“There’s a lot more. The owner used to have occult meetings, orgies, talks, and dinner parties.”

“Humans playing with the darkness?” Anka asked.

“Yes, Madam.”

Anka walked up to the altar and found the freshly killed body of a man on top of it. His throat was slit from his chest down to his lower stomach, and his face was frozen in the terror of his final moments.

The stone altar had a trough around the sides, so the blood seeping from the victim dripped into the wells and down into four stone collecting cups underneath.

“I can see the original owner liked to dabble in the black arts.”

“Yes, he was known to the locals as a devil worshiper,” Asha said.