Never Forsaken (The Kurtherian Gambit Book 5)

by Michael Anderle

  They stopped in a small village to gas up, then continued on. Bethany Anne made one adjustment after seeing the topology of the valley David’s Castle was a part of. There was another tourist building two miles away from David’s castle, but at a slightly higher elevation. The driver dropped them off at the restaurant/hotel. They paid top dollar for two adjoining rooms that faced David’s abode. They charged Stephen a three-week deposit to allow Ashur into the room. Bethany Anne looked down at Ashur whose face, she would swear, was saying, “What? I’ll be good.”

  They went to their rooms, entering in the first and opening the adjoining door to the second. Ashur went around checking things out. Stephen put the bag with the weapons on the first bed. Bethany Anne opened the window, the hotel was only three stories and they had the top room. She went back to the first bag, and found the snipers scope. Returning to the window, she started dialing in to see David’s castle better. Stephen came up behind her. “How do you want to get over there? I imagine he has the grounds pretty well guarded by people and automated emplacements.”

  Bethany Anne pulled the scope off of her face, “Automated emplacements? Stephen you speak so deliciously right before an operation.” She put the scope back to her eye. “We are going to drop in on them.”

  Stephen looked down at Ashur who had come back in the room. Ashur didn’t look like he had a clue what she was talking about either. Stephen was trying to figure out why he had expected the dog to have any answers.

  “I only see one guard up top. We need to get rid of him quickly.”

  “How? Are you a good enough shot to hit him from here? Plus, that will make an awful racket and I don’t know about you, but I can’t run fast enough to expect us to be able to get inside before they find the dead lookout.”

  “Oh, God no. Maybe Ecaterina or Killian could make the shot, but I can’t. I’ll shoot him with a pistol if I have to, but I hope to just cut his throat.” She put up the scope.

  Stephen was completely at a loss what his Queen was expecting to do, so he just accepted it would happen as she said it would.

  Bethany Anne started placing weapons on her body and in her holsters, so Stephen did the same. Once completed, she tossed the bag of blood to Stephen, “We are probably going to need that, but save some for Michael if you can. He isn’t going anywhere, so if we fail, don’t kill yourself, just drink the blood and we will try again some other time, got it?” Stephen nodded, this wasn’t a request from her; he was being commanded to take care of himself, first.

  She looked down at Ashur, “Don’t you make a lot of noise, either. No barking or anything else unless you see something we need to know about.” Ashur returned her stare.

  Tying her sword in place, she positioned Ashur to face the window. “Stay.” She waved at Stephen, “Come up beside me. No screaming like a little girl, got it?” Stephen was starting to understand what was about to happen.

  “Is this going to be like John’s story of attacking the large yacht?” Bethany Anne nodded, “Well then, yippee-ki-yay.”

  Bethany Anne finished with him, grinning as the three of them disappeared, “Mother-fucker.”

  She had almost got the distance right. She had undershot the castle distance by about three hundred feet. She was high enough in the air to see the roof and where the guard was walking taking a drag on a cigarette. She trans-located the group of them again, after falling fifty feet. Hopefully, no one noticed the three of them appearing and disappearing in the middle of the sky.

  She let go of both Stephen and Ashur as soon as they came out of the second translocation. The three of them dropped the last five feet. She landed on the balls of her feet, and took off towards the guard. He hadn’t finish the last pull on his cigarette when his head was cut cleanly off, his body crumpling to the ground. Bethany Anne had to move quickly to dodge the arterial spray. “Gah!”

  She walked back over to Stephen and Ashur, both on alert. She whispered, “This thing is dangerously sharp. I just wanted to cut his throat, it took his head.”

  Stephen smiled, “Guess he was evil then, huh?” She nodded agreement.

  They went in search of a way down. From the conversation with Anton, they figured Michael would be near some dungeon. Nathan didn’t have any information about the castle layout so they were on their own.

  Stephen looked at her, “Stay together or apart?” She considered their options.

  Her only priority was breaking Michael out of this mess. If they disrupted David’s people it was extra points and should they kill David she would do the happy dance. “I’ll seek Michael by going down as fast as possible. I want you two to stick with me. Should we get trapped, your responsibilities are to take the fight somewhere else and let me continue on. Keep the fight going then meet me back on the roof.”

  “How will I know when to meet you?”

  “Oh, I’m sure I’ll think of something. I’ll yell it a few times down the halls if I need to, just you two pay attention, ok?”

  Both nodded at her. That dog was just freaky intelligent, she thought.

  They quickly went down the stairs. They only passed one person, a maid, going down. Bethany Anne popped her on the head, successfully not killing her. They laid her on a bed as if she was taking a nap.

  It was getting late in the day. No one had seen them yet, but they hadn’t found the way down to the dungeon, either. Bethany Anne turned back from looking around a corner, “You have any suggestions?”

  Ashur chose that moment to take the lead, smelling along the floorboards. They sped up to catch him and then they quickly went from room to room. They found two security types. These they killed quickly, each one breaking a neck. They stashed them in a small room that looked and smelled dusty. Ashur went at it for ten minutes before he pawed at a wall in a hallway. Stephen grabbed both torch holders and tried to move them. He shrugged his shoulders mouthing, ‘It works in the movies.’

  Ashur was sniffing on the wall, his head easily able to reach up hand high. Finally, he stopped and pawed at a brick. Bethany Anne felt around and finally just pushed hard and a ‘click’ was heard. Stephen pushed and a section of the stone wall pushed in, the three of them entered and carefully closed the stone door. “Fuck my life,” Bethany Anne whispered, “I didn’t think to bring a flashlight.”

  A click occurred and lights turned on showing the stone steps going down in a circle. Stephen took his hand away from the light switch, “Us vampires are able to get with the times, you know?” He smiled at Bethany Anne who rolled her eyes. The three of them took off down the steps, trying to listen ahead.

  They passed a room, it had some very old fashioned torture equipment, but nothing that looked like it could be used to hold somebody that would be non-corporeal. Nothing smelled like it had been used in the last few weeks.

  There was another level, this one with cells and old fashioned metal clasps. The final level was a large room and in the center was a copper looking device that reminded Bethany Anne of a diving bell.

  “This has got to be it. You two make sure I don’t have company.” Both Stephen and Ashur went back to the stairs.

  She walked around the device.

  TOM, do you have any suggestions?

  According to the phone call, the idea is if he becomes corporeal, it kills him. I would imagine it has a huge amount of pressure, or a huge amount of vacuum. With one, it would crush him, the other he would explode. If we could equalize the pressure, he could form his body again and we can grab him and go.

  Bethany Anne looked around and found the controls. She studied the controls for a minute.

  Ok, any ideas?

  Do I look like I run strange devices?

  Do you really want me to answer that question?

  Look, the pod-doc is not strange.

  Ok, maybe I was asking too much. So, if I try to open the door on something with pressure, the door blows off and god only knows what happens. Too much vacuum and there isn’t a chance in hell I can pull the door ope
n, not even with my strength.

  Well, we could call to him and try to grab him etherically.

  Come again?

  Tom was silent. This couldn’t be good; however, she didn’t like their other chances and right now she wanted out of this castle in the worst way. The whole place just reeked of evil from ages past.

  We could try to enter the Etheric right here and call to him, move to where you ‘feel’ him. Grab him and then move back out, you slip back into normal space and we have him out of there.

  And if I fail to judge the distance correctly?

  Uh… boom?

  Hold on to that thought.

  “Michael, can you hear me?” Stephen and Ashur both turned their heads to look at her. She waved her hands and they turned their heads back up the stairs.

  She whispered in a hiss, “Gott Verdammt Michael, answer me you fucking pain in the ass!”

  Bethany Anne? It was weak, but she heard his mind connection.

  “Yes! It’s me, Michael. I’m outside this fucking contraption. I’ve got to get you out. Is there anything you can do to help me?”

  No. I am barely holding on here as it is. My energy is low. Have you killed David?

  “No, haven’t met him yet. I’ll get around to killing him soon. Well, I hope anyway.”

  She got no response from Michael. It wasn’t like she wanting his approval for killing David anyway.

  You need to escape. David has killed Stephen, he will kill you. Leave to fight another day.

  “Bullshit, Stephen is with me.”

  Truly?

  “Yes, truly. I am not a lying bastard who says one thing and then disappears for a year. Oh wait, that’s you. Don’t think I’m happy with you at the moment but we can talk once I have you out of this fucking thing. Shit!” Bethany Anne was getting impatient. Not a rare occurrence for her.

  “Fuck this. Michael, get ready, we have some blood out here. When you sense me not moving you any more, then you are safe to come back into your body. Drink the bag because if you try to give me a hickie you won’t need to worry about David, I’ll kill you myself.”

  She could hear chuckling in her mind. At least Michael’s sense of humor wasn’t gone.

  “Bethany Anne?” Stephen called out, concern in his voice.

  She grabbed some blood out of the bag and set it down beside the bag. “Whatever you do, Michael cannot drink from me, understand?” He nodded. She pulled off her sword and set it aside.

  “Michael, time to meet your maker.” Let him chew on that comment for a minute.

  She stepped into the Etheric, trying not to move any distance. It was a weird feeling; she lost the ability to ‘see’ anything. Everything was by feel and sensing in this dimension for her right now. She could feel a sentient near her, undulating in and out of existence. He felt maybe ten feet away? Got you, she tried to mentally walk in that direction, moving towards the mind. There was nothing easy for her to grab. When she took others and transported them, she always grabbed them physically.

  Dammit! She wasn’t going to get this close and fail. She moved a little to the side, to feel him from a different angle and then took another ‘step’ again. Michael felt like he was some sort of vapor, not wholly here. She needed some sort of vacuum.

  TOM, can we pull a person into the Etheric and then push them out again?

  Well, I guess there isn’t anything that would preclude that idea. So far, we have moved people into the etheric and pulled them out. I’m not sure if that is factually correct or just how we understood it ourselves.

  No fucking time like the present to learn something new.

  TOM stayed quiet. It wasn’t like he would change her mind and she always seemed to have an innate understanding of how the Etheric worked. He never explained how many decades it could take a Kurtherian to master how much she knew right now.

  Bethany Anne inched towards the vapor, thinking how far she had moved inside the Etheric. She reached out, mentally grabbing the nebulous feeling and willing it to come into the Etheric with her. It didn’t take long before the vapor became more solid in her mind. She decided to act as if she was transporting herself from a normal location and took a step back into the room. She had pushed Michael ahead of her, not wanting to find out what might happen if they were touching when she was back in the room, a very solid Michael fell towards the floor. She reached out enough to grab his shirt, it ripped. She was successful slowing him down a little before he hit the stone floor.

  Ouch, that had to hurt.

  He was unconscious. She grabbed a bag and was busy ripping it open when Stephen whispered. “Bethany Anne, we have company!” He pointed up.

  She downed the bag for herself and waved the two of them towards her. Grabbing the empty blood pouch, she began tossing the extra blood pouches along with her empty back into the bag, “Grab Michael.” Stephen picked up his Patriarch. Ashur came over quickly; she tossed the canvas bag around her shoulders, grabbed a handful of Ashur and then Stephen’s hand and transported them back to their rooms in the hotel.

  Twenty seconds later, David came down the stairs, sniffing in puzzlement. “Why does it smell like dog in here?” He went over to the device and checked the settings. Nothing had been touched. He walked around the containing device trying to figure out what was wrong. “Master!” David moved quickly back up the stairs. He screamed in rage when he learned of his dead guards and rushed back down the stairs.

  Walking over to the device and slammed his fist against it. “How!” He turned around and looking down, noticed a drop of blood on the floor. He stared harder into the device, looking for any proof that Michael was still inside. The device was working correctly, but he couldn’t see anything.

  David started yelling in a dialect lost to the ages.

  The four of them appeared back in the hotel room. Ashur stepped away and went into the other room. Stephen laid Michael on the bed, his face looking anemic. Bethany Anne quickly pulled blood bags out and tossed them to Stephen who ripped them open and worked to get some down Michael’s throat.

  It took them fifteen minutes to get enough in Michael that he was able to wake up and start drinking the blood himself. His voice calm, his eyes blazing in anger. “Where is David?”

  Bethany Anne snorted, “Really? Your first words are wondering where that useless excuse is? Not, ‘thank you Bethany Anne, thank you Stephen for saving my apparently inconsiderate ass’?” She considered walking over and slapping the man.

  He managed a feeble grin, “My apologies, I guess I should have said ‘I appreciate the rescue Bethany Anne and Stephen, where is David so I may kill him?’”

  Mollified, Bethany Anne replied, “Well, at least you have one priority correct. He is back at his castle, I imagine he is figuring out you aren’t there and having a epic conniption fit. I hope he is worried just where you are right now, looking around every corner in fear. But, looking at you, you can’t wrestle a squirrel, much less another vampire.”

  Michael looked down at his body, realizing the truth in her words. “Yes, this is true. However, I will be better soon enough and then I will take care of him.”

  “Really? In a couple of hours, you going to be ‘ready to go’? What a bullshit answer. You will be lucky to be at quarter-strength. You were almost dead; I could feel it. If you are better in two days, I’ll consider it amazing.”

  Michael decided to accept the truth of her statements. His anger craved killing David immediately. “How did we get out?”

  Stephen handed Michael another bag, “Bethany Anne teleported us.” Bethany Anne gave him an ugly look. He shrugged, “What do you want me to do? He hasn’t learned everything so won’t have a clue if I tell him the real explanation.”

  Bethany Anne shrugged, “Fine! Do we need to get out of this area?”

  Michael looked around and through the window, “Where is ‘here’?”

  “We are about two to three miles from his castle, in a hotel.”

  Michael pursed his
lips, “He might be able to feel me if he comes around here, so I wouldn’t say it is the safest place. Do we have a vehicle?”

  Bethany Anne pondered that question, she reached into the bag again to pull out a pouch, but this time she drank the blood. She tried to gauge her level.

  TOM, how am I doing on energy?

  Amazingly enough, you have probably only used twenty percent since we left this room.

  So, I’m pulling energy through Ashur, right? Is this painful to him?

  Does he look like he is bothered? I’m guessing he would let you know if it bothered him.

  I wonder just how much energy I could pull. When we were in the Etheric, it seemed to be all around us, like swimming in the ocean.