The church moaned in protest as the earth shifted and pulled it deeper and deeper beneath the ground. The light from the stars in the night sky crept in from the shattered stained glass windows and gradually winked out as earth and rock obscured them. The church had been swallowed whole.
His plans usurped, the Master gazed frantically about him, trying to save the texts and scrolls needed to complete the ritual.
"This is not over," he muttered as he gathered the materials that he had toiled so long and killed so many to acquire. He glanced a final time at the vessel of flesh that had once housed the elder demon and took his leave of the altar. "Another place, another time, great Laibach. This I swear."
The Master struck something solid and recoiled away from it. It was as though something had been placed in his path. He snarled savagely and again attempted to leave the collapsing church. When he collided with the obstruction this time he was repelled backward. In growing rage the vampire lord dropped the multiple volumes and scrolls at his feet and with fangs bared threw himself at what halted his escape from the sinking church. He struck the invisible barrier but it did not yield.
"What magic is this?" the vampire hissed. Again he slammed against the obstacle with all his supernatural might - but to no avail.
The Master looked to the body of the little girl for guidance. "Are you still here, great Laibach? What is happening?" He continued to push at the invisible impediment.
The eyes of the child, which had closed, languidly opened to again reveal orbs of liquid black. "We were so close, Heinrich Joseph Nest," the Elder intoned, "closer than ever before."
