Vengeance (Hybrid Book 3)

by Nick Stead

  It wasn’t long before the panel slid high enough to reveal what lay beyond, and I felt a sense of relief. We’d finally made it to Lady Sarah’s chamber.

  Chapter Fourteen – How Much Does She Really Mean to You

  We ducked under the panel before it had chance to go all the way up to the top, stepping through to find this chamber was split into two. One side appeared to be a clear pathway to the next part of the dungeon, the doorway suspiciously open and easy to reach compared to every other section we’d passed through so far. The other side had holes set into the wall which went all the way along, right up to the base of a set of stairs which led up to where Lady Sarah still lay on her stone slab in that deathly sleep. The room was divided by a stone wall which extended right up to the roof over our heads, starting just a few feet from the area where we’d entered and ending in a kind of an L-shape. As far as we could make out, the right side appeared to extend around the corner from the top of the staircase and above the doorway on the left. That must have been where the window in the previous passage had looked into, which meant there was a second exit to the left of Lady Sarah, offering us the choice of a seemingly easy way through to the next section or the chance to reach the vampire, which would presumably be more of a challenge.

  As we took this in, the panel behind us rumbled back into life. We instinctively turned to see it sealing off the doorway we’d just come through, and that’s when we saw another message on the wall behind us.

  One safe path, one of peril. Which will you choose?

  Well, that seemed to confirm my suspicions. The only question was, what kind of peril awaited us on the right? It had to be something to do with those holes in the wall, but what exactly did they hold? There was only one way to find out.

  Zee looked at me as if for confirmation. Leaving the chamber without Lady Sarah was not an option, regardless of the cost to reach her. So I dipped my head in a brief nod and that was all it took before we were stepping forward as one, towards the right hand passage.

  A clear liquid poured from the roof before we could even take a second step, forming a curtain of fluid all the way along from the wall on the right to the dividing wall running down the middle of the room. Another message appeared, projected on the water.

  How much does she really mean to you?

  Because that wasn’t ominous at all. The left side remained clear of whatever that liquid was. It appeared to be water but with my sense of smell still dulled by the ever present, overwhelming stink of death and decay and that thing we’d already encountered once, I couldn’t be certain without placing my nose right in front of it. Zee seemed to know exactly what it was though, and he drew back with fangs bared.

  “Holy water,” he hissed.

  “How do you know?”

  “I can just sense the purity from here.”

  “Great. So whatever we have to face on this path to Lady Sarah, it seems like I’m meant to do it alone. But the holy water makes no sense. I’m sure I was supposed to kill you in that last chamber, so why would the Slayers need to bother with holy water to deter you when they expected me to be alone for this latest trial anyway?”

  “Perhaps they just wanted to be certain you would have to face it alone. A lot of planning has obviously gone into this place. They may well have prepared for every eventuality, or at least everything they could think of.”

  “I suppose. I guess there’s nothing for it then,” I growled.

  “If you really want me to stay with you, I can survive passing through this waterfall. I would need to feed again to repair the damage though, which would mean sapping more of your strength.”

  “Thanks Zee, I appreciate you offering to do that for me. But I think I better save my energy for healing from whatever I have to get through to reach Lady Sarah. And there’s no way of knowing what else might be built into this right hand path. There could be more holy water, as well as whatever the main form of ‘peril’ is which I assume would be damaging to both of us. You take the left side and find out what you can about whatever that doorway leads to, but don’t go too far in case it’s a trap. We don’t want to risk being split up again, if we can help it.”

  “Wise words for one so young. See you on the other side then?”

  “Good luck,” I answered, offering him a clawed hand to shake. “Let’s hope your path is at least as easy as it seems.”

  “Luck to you too,” he replied, grabbing my hand and pulling me into a rough hug. “Somehow I think you will need it more than I.”

  He clapped me on the shoulder as he spoke, then after that brief moment of physically expressing the unlikely friendship we’d formed, we broke apart and each faced the path we had to walk. I found myself hoping the left side of the room was as harmless as it appeared to be, feeling closer to the vampire pirate for that brief exchange and daring to hope he might be the true friend I’d been in need of for so long, since being dragged into this cursed life. Every other apparent friend had turned out to be false or remained too distant for me to form a proper bond with, like the very vampire I was about to risk my life for. But so far, Zee was proving to be trustworthy.

  My rage was still burning as strong as ever and I let it guide me as I took that first step into the unknown danger, feeling I would need it to see me through whatever fresh torment I was about to endure. The hallowed liquid which was as acid to the vampires thundered so harmlessly around me, its purity washing away some of the filth tainting my body. Whatever blessing had been bestowed upon it by some human priest wasn’t enough to protect it from that same taint though. A slit had opened up in the stone floor to allow the water to fall down into a hidden pool beneath our feet where I assumed some kind of pump system then sent it back up to keep the curtain flowing for as long as needed. I couldn’t see down to that pool under the floor but it surely ran red with the remnants of all the lives I had taken which it tried so hard to wash away, and as I passed through the liquid, crimson droplets fell from my fur. At least it offered me another chance to quench my thirst and I tilted my head back as I walked under the man-made waterfall to allow some of it to fill my mouth, enjoying the soothing feeling of the blessed water running down my dry gullet.

  Eyeing those ominous looking holes in the wall once I was on the other side, I paused briefly to shake myself like the beast I truly was. In the dim light, the only way I might be able to see inside those circular crannies was if I put my face right up beside one, which I wasn’t dumb enough to try. If they were designed to shoot something out like arrows maybe, then I could lose an eye at best, or end up dead at worst. No, I was going to have to continue blindly on and just hope I wouldn’t have to endure too many wounds before I made it to Lady Sarah, or I’d be forced to transform yet again.

  Somewhere on the other side of me Zee was making his way across the left hand passage. I didn’t want to be too far behind when he crossed through the doorway on his side if I could help it, not wanting to leave him to face whatever dangers may be lurking ahead on his own. So I braced myself for some form of attack and took another step forward.

  Without warning, steam poured from vents hidden in each of the holes along the wall in a burst of scalding heat. I could feel the uncomfortable warmth of it even though I was only on the very edge of the vapour, causing me to make something between a human cry of surprise and an animal grunt as I instinctively jumped backwards, into the waterfall. My nerves seemed to burn with the memory of the last heated caress they’d been subjected to, even though they’d regenerated perfectly, as if the injuries had never happened, and it was enough to repel me from that blistering path. I’d been expecting something meant to hurt me to shoot from the holes in the wall but for whatever reason, I hadn’t been prepared for something else that would burn my flesh. I think after being made to pass through flames once, I just hadn’t expected to have to endure more burns since David seemed to have made an effort to vary the trials he’d built into each section. So I’d expected some kind of weapon to be concea
led in each hole and pierce my flesh as I progressed along the passage, rather than jets of burning steam.

  “Nick?” Zee’s voice came from the other side of the wall. “Are you hurt?”

  “No,” I growled, recovering from the initial shock and taking another step forward, just in front of the scalding vapour. “Just taken by surprise.”

  “Are you sure you don’t need my help?”

  “Yeah, carry on down that side. There’s no sense for me to have to heal both of us.”

  “Very well.”

  As I readied myself for the pain I was going to have to endure, the steam pouring from the first hole winked out of existence, dissipating harmlessly into the surrounding air currents. After a moment it started up again, but I could see a gap opening up in the wall of vapour as different jets of the burning mist temporarily went out and then roared back into being. It didn’t take me long to realise there was a pattern to it, just like in some of the video games I’d played as a human. Crossing the passage without suffering any damage was possible, but it was all about timing. At least this felt like a fairer challenge compared to some of the others I’d been put through and given my prowess at gaming, I was confident I could beat it without getting burnt. And I supposed if I did get caught in the steam it shouldn’t cause as much damage as more fire would have done, but the open sores it would create in my skin would be painful enough and I wanted to avoid more blistering if I could.

  I took a moment to study the bursts of vapour before making my move, rushing forward through the first gap to open up and passing safely through the first three vents but stopping short of the fourth. The first of the holes in the wall vomited more of its harmful mist behind me and the fourth did the same just in front. From what I’d seen of the pattern, I’d have just seconds to dodge the next burst from the vent I was stood in line with and cross the next two while there was a clear path, before they breathed more scalding vapour over me.

  Both my timing and my judgement were spot on and before I knew it I’d successfully evaded the jets of steam spilling from the first ten holes. A sense of triumph flooded through me when I realised I was almost halfway, beating back the fires of my rage to replace it with a smug confidence. I’d never met a video game I couldn’t beat as a human and even though this was reality, I felt those same skills were serving me well in that passage. If David had hoped to see me suffer he’d picked the wrong challenge. He shouldn’t have mirrored this section of his dungeon so closely on the games we’d played at each other’s houses, and I liked to think he was sat in his control room cursing my prowess.

  I’d just crossed into the second half of the passageway when it all went wrong. For the briefest of moments the vents turned off and I had a clear view through the passage and up the stairs as the mist cleared, just long enough to watch in horror as more holy water sprinkled from the ceiling, right above Lady Sarah’s prone corpse-like form. It was as if the very heavens were attempting to cleanse the world of her unnatural vampiric taint, except in reality I knew this had been David’s design all along. Then the jets of steam resumed the same pattern as before, obscuring her from view again. But I could hear the drops of water falling and I’d seen the devastating effects it had on vampires before. If I didn’t move quickly she’d be reduced to nothing but bones and once her heart melted away with the rest of her flesh and her brain oozed out through her ears, she’d be beyond saving.

  The words projected on the curtain of holy water at the entrance floated across my mind’s eye. How much does she really mean to you? I could still save her if I was quick, but it would require sacrificing more of my own flesh to do so, not to mention spending more energy to heal the damage once we reached an area safe enough for me to transform again. There wasn’t much time for thought, only to react, my lips pulled back in a feral snarl at the pain I was about to endure. And even if I had been given chance to think it through, I knew I didn’t really have a choice. If I didn’t fulfil my end of the bargain, Amy’s life would also be forfeit and that was something I’d already concluded I couldn’t allow to happen. Selina might have saved her already but I had no doubt she could easily undo whatever act of witchcraft she’d used to keep my sister from dying to her mortal wounds, if I returned empty handed or worse, carrying the remains of her sister. Even if I lied about what had happened, she could probably use some kind of spell to see the truth for herself. So I would have to charge into the scalding mist after all and just endure the pain. Besides, even if it hadn’t been for Amy could I really leave Lady Sarah to melt away beneath the acid effect liquid? As infuriating as she could be and as distant an ally as she’d been so far, making friendship between us seemingly impossible to forge, she had tried to help me in her own way, even if she had her own reasons for that. If I was honest with myself, I did feel some duty to rescue her.

  Throwing all caution to the wind, I shut my eyes to protect them from being damaged by the heated water droplets hanging on the air and bounded forward. The blistering steam was only in contact with my skin for a matter of seconds before the first patches of epidermis were stripped away, nerves sparking with the oxygen in the air in a fresh wave of complaints. I sprinted with the biggest burst of speed I could muster, for my own sake as much as the vampire’s, trying to reduce my exposure to the harmful vapour I was being forced to run through. And even with the intensity of the fresh pain I was suffering, I was all too aware of the holy water continuing to spatter Lady Sarah. I didn’t need a line of sight to witness the wounds she would be suffering, able to imagine all too clearly the bloody tracks each drop would make as they rolled across her pale skin, lines of raw flesh in stark contrast to her deathly pallor.

  I couldn’t help but voice the agony I was having to endure as I ran, and the rise of anger it brought with it. Zee must have still been making his way along on the other side of the room because he called out through the wall again. His voice sounded to be just ahead of the point I’d made it to on my side, the pirate no doubt exercising caution, despite the apparent safe route across he’d been offered.

  “Nick?”

  His concern for me was clear but I couldn’t find the words to answer him in that moment, even when I was offered a brief respite from the steam as the vent I was passing briefly shut off its scalding breath. There was no time to stop and wait for the next few vents to close though. My ears zoned in on the downpour falling up ahead, which sounded to be growing steadily heavier as if it had started out as light rain and was working itself up to falling in torrents. And as if that wasn’t enough to keep me from faltering, I heard Zee’s voice again, this time sounding a cry of his own before all went quiet. It seemed the left hand side hadn’t been completely free of peril after all but whatever he’d just encountered, there was nothing I could do from my side of the wall separating us. I had to reach Lady Sarah first and save her from the holy water, then I could go back for Zee. With any luck the doorway round the corner of this L-shaped passage would lead to the same place as the doorway at ground level which the pirate was heading for, so I could run to help him without having to go all the way back through the steam and around the other side of the room.

  Spurred on to even greater speeds, I ignored the throbbing of my exposed muscles and pushed my body to its limits once again. That second stretch of the passage felt far longer than the first half, despite the fact I ran without stopping and thus cleared it so much quicker than the vents I’d sought a safe path through. Prolonged exposure to the steam meant it was eating through more and more of my skin, robbing my flesh of its protective layers of tissue in waves of searing agony. But just when it seemed it would never end, my foot crashed into stone, stubbing my toes and causing me to fall forwards.

  My eyelids felt as tender as every other inch of me but I instinctively opened my eyes to see I’d run into the first of the steps which led up to Lady Sarah. I landed on my front paws and kept going, forcing my aching body to ascend the staircase without so much as a moment’s rest. It was a re
lief to finally have broken free of the scalding mist and into dry air, though I couldn’t heal my damaged skin yet. I must have looked a more horrific sight than usual with my patchy fur, broken up by blotches of pink and red, but my appearance was nothing compared to the gruesome spectacle Lady Sarah had become.

  The holy water was falling fast enough that it had completely stripped her of her beauty, reducing her face to a bloody mask. Her ears, nose and lips had melted away, giving her a skull like appearance, especially with the damage to her hair, leaving just tufts of it left on an otherwise bald head covered in open sores. But worst of all were her eyes – the lids were gone, revealing two orbs staring sightlessly upwards. The black dress she wore was untouched by the purity of the liquid, but I could see her limbs were also red raw, parts of bone showing through in places. As I ran, even the bones began to dissolve away and her unprotected eyes were becoming a bubbling mess in their sockets, though whether or not that was a minor improvement to her current looks was hard to say. The thing that worried me most was how close the water must be to causing sufficient damage to her brain to turn her from a corpse-like undead to an actual corpse, as dead as any mortal human after suffering such severe wounds. She surely had only seconds to live, and the artificial downpour seemed to be falling even harder and faster as I crossed that final stretch to reach her.

  I half expected something else to happen on the staircase to either slow me and prevent me reaching the vampire in time, or cause me even greater suffering (or both) but David allowed me to reach her without any further trials to pass. A fresh wave of stinging washed over me as the water ran down my wounds, but I ignored it and reared back up onto two legs, trying to shield her body from any more damage as I bent over her to pick her up and carry her out of the acid rain for vampires. My feet splashed in a pool of liquidised tissue mixed with the holy water, a ghastly moat around her castle.