by Nick Stead
And then there was that darkness at the heart of the human side to me which I’d allowed to grow so strong. There was no escaping the fact I was a killer, and I doubted there was any coming back from that, even without any lycanthropic rage to drive me to commit the brutal acts I’d come to enjoy. I could try to go back to mankind’s idea of civilisation, but could I ever act civilised again? When I’d already crossed the line, there would be little to hold me back in any violent confrontations I found myself in. The need to kill might even continue to live in the darkness, independent of the primal fury suppressed by David’s serum. That lycanthropic rage might have nurtured it to begin with, but it had become as much a part of me as any of my other traits. I’d made a promise to myself to stop killing in cold blood but if I were to return to a human life completely free of fighting and bloodshed, there was every chance my inner darkness would start to hunger for death again until it drove me to murder. Maybe I would still be doomed to a cursed life as a human serial killer. And without any supernatural abilities it would probably only be a matter of time before I was caught and locked away, or even executed if I ended up in a country where they still had the death penalty.
Whatever the future held, it was clear that returning home wasn’t an option. I couldn’t bring myself to dash Amy’s hopes though, especially with everything else she was having to cope with.
“Maybe. We’ll have to see if whatever they did to me is permanent or not. Are you sure you want me to come back? I thought you were mad at me for killing Hannah.”
“Well yeah, but you’re still my brother. Mum would be happy to see you.”
“I know. If it’s safe,” I replied.
Anything else that might have been said was interrupted by a loud crunch as Lady Sarah stepped on a skeletal hand crawling towards us. “We need to go.”
No sooner had she spoken than a hidden door to our right slid open and a white fox came trotting through. Its scent was weak in the fetid air but my nose just about caught an animal smell which it registered as male and there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the creature. His sudden appearance was too unusual to be a coincidence though.
“Gwyn?” I guessed.
The fox cocked his head and looked directly at me. That was all I needed as confirmation – mortal animals generally avoided direct eye contact and a true fox would surely not have dared to come anywhere near two vampires and a barghest. It had to be the knocker, and his animal form must have been what he was hinting at when he’d talked about us being kindred spirits before.
By some kind of unspoken agreement, we followed Gwyn through the door he’d just opened. It seemed like the only thing to do since he was the only one among us who had any knowledge of the layout of the dungeon, vague though it may be for that last section. And as soon as we started forward, he turned and led us into the passageway he’d just revealed. I grabbed another sword on the way out, feeling I would rather have some kind of weapon than be without, even though I was in no shape to carry on fighting. Lady Sarah still carried the sword she’d claimed from one of the fallen skeletons and Zee had his cutlass drawn.
There was a hole partway along the tunnel, the mouth of which was quite wide and weakly lit but it appeared to narrow to the point where it was just big enough for Gwyn’s fox form to fit in, but too small for the rest of us. And as if to demonstrate that was indeed the case, the fox darted inside and was swallowed up by the darkness beyond that dimly lit mouth almost instantly. Seconds later, a familiar voice called out from the shadows “I left my clothes back in the other chamber. Would one of you chummers run back for them for me?”
“I’ll go,” Zee offered, sheathing his sword. It didn’t take him long with his vampiric speed.
A human hand reached out from the crawl space to receive the bundle of clothes with a simple “Thanks.”
“This tunnel, you entered it from the passage the skeletons came from?” Zee asked. I guessed that must have been where he’d found the knocker’s clothes.
“That I did,” Gwyn confirmed.
“It seems very convenient that the one way out of that chamber and into the next part of the dungeon was this tunnel only you can fit in,” Lady Sarah said, picking up on Zee’s train of thought.
“I saw it in the plans if that’s what you’re getting at,” Gwyn answered. “I didn’t know they were going to send all those bony chaps in to make things more exciting.”
“But how could David know you would be with us to go through and let us out and into this passage?” Zee pressed.
“Maybe he would have automatically opened the door once he’d had enough of watching us fight the skeletons if Gwyn hadn’t been able to open it for us?” I offered.
“Perhaps,” Lady Sarah answered. “Something does not seem quite right about all this though.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. “I’ve been thinking the same. At first I thought he had just accounted for every possibility so things would still go in the same direction he wanted them to, but the longer this goes on the more I’m not so sure that really explains it.”
“Could he be predicting our actions through witchcraft?” Zee asked Selina. “We do know he had the help of at least one spellcaster to create this place, since we’ve encountered magical warding in here.”
“It’s unlikely. I’m sure you all know there are such things as visions which can come to anybody in dreams, without the help of witchcraft. With the right tools it is possible to induce visions, but to try and see for long enough to discern our every movement and every decision down here? I’m not sure any witch or warlock has ever had that kind of power. There are other methods to try and predict the future but nothing I can think of that would give the kind of accuracy needed to plan everything so perfectly.”
“This isn’t the first time the Slayers seem to have known what was going to happen either,” I said, thinking back to the base I’d infiltrated with Leon and the way they’d all been waiting for us in that one room. I quickly related the tale to the others.
“That could have been down to a vision,” Selina answered. “If it was just that one scenario and they already had an idea you would be coming, it would be easy enough for a competent witch to see when you would strike which would have allowed them to set the trap.”
“I guess. They had just found Leon’s home so they probably would have been expecting us to attack at some point.”
“What about necromancy?” Zee asked. “Is it possible to glean any information on future events through the dead?”
“Honestly, I do not know,” Lady Sarah replied. “I have only ever used that power sparingly and it is not something I’ve ever tried.”
“I think the why’s going to have to wait,” Selina said. “We should worry about getting out of here first.”
“Good idea, we can tear the answers out of David when we find a way through to him,” I growled, wishing I still had my fangs and claws to make that possible.
“Nick! You said you were cured so stop acting like a monster,” Amy admonished.
I kept quiet but gripped the hilt of the sword tighter, thinking it would have to do when the time for vengeance came. With that, we made our way to what Gwyn assured us was the final chamber.
Chapter Twenty Five – Terror Made Flesh
We reached the end of the passage and the panel slid up of its own accord, the terrible stench of the demon rolling out the instant it began to grind up and hitting us like a physical force so that it sent us reeling. Even the barghest seemed affected. It was as if the thing in that chamber was terror made flesh.
From the doorway we could just make out the dark shape of something large and monstrous. It stood towards the back of the room, making no move to attack when the door opened which suggested that this was another fight that wouldn’t begin until something triggered it, again just like in a video game. But unlike the games I had grown up on, I knew this was one we weren’t meant to win. David had no doubt picked the creature as a final boss b
ecause it was something he didn’t think we could defeat, giving us no chance of actually beating his game. This was about revenge after all. He wanted me to pay for killing Fiona and ultimately that was going to end in my death, at least if it went to plan. It seemed to me that if we were going to survive, we needed some kind of a cheat.
“And you’re sure there’s no other way out of here?” I asked Gwyn.
“Sorry, fluffy. This is the last part of the dungeon.”
“What about if we backtrack to where me and Zee broke through into the main part of the base?”
“That was all carefully planned as I’m sure you already worked out for yourself. Even if I could take you back there, you would find it was a dead end. Any possible escape routes you saw were there purely to trick you into thinking you had a chance at escaping. I’m sure it all added to the fun for your old pal running this show.”
“Okay, can you two vampires not just blast your way through the walls telepathically?”
“I wouldn’t advise that either,” Gwyn said before either of them could answer. “It could cause a cave-in, leaving us even worse off than we are now. Plus there’s more warding in place to cover any possible escape routes from that kind of power, including those hidden doors into the main base I mentioned earlier. Much as I hate to say it because trust me, I’m as reluctant to go in there and fight that thing as you are, I think our only hope is to somehow beat the demon and then find a way through to the Slayers. If you hadn’t noticed, there is a window along the top of that left wall. It wasn’t in the plans but I’m guessing David’s watching on the other side of it, maybe because he didn’t want to risk missing your death if his cameras failed him.”
I hadn’t noticed the window, my attention entirely focussed on that dark shape waiting for us on the other side of the chamber. But I poked my head in for another look after Gwyn pointed it out and sure enough there was a large glass pane at the top of the wall, though I couldn’t see anything through it from where we were stood, the room behind it seemingly as dully lit as the one we were about to enter. Seeing it gave me some small hope though. At least if we did somehow survive this last fight then we had a potential way through to David and the other Slayers, and presumably beyond that control room there would be a base similar to others I’d been in and most importantly a door to the outside world and freedom. We just needed the chance to get through. That would be easier said than done with the demon standing in our way.
“Okay, what do we know about this demon, then?” I asked, resigned to the fact it seemed like the fight was going to have to go ahead.
“I already told you all I know,” Gwyn replied. “It’s big and it’s demonic.”
“Lady Sarah; Selina? Either of you have much experience with demons? Either of you recognise what type of demon it is?”
They both answered no.
“What if we didn’t have to fight it? Could we possibly reason with it or make some kind of a deal? That is what demons are famous for, right? Making deals?”
“Not all demons are capable of reason, Nick,” Lady Sarah said. “Some are as sharp and as cunning as the greatest human minds, but others are more bestial, driven only by base instincts.”
“I hope you’re not implying beasts are dumb. I’d expect that from humans or from that bastard sire of yours, but not from you.”
“No, I am not so arrogant as to think only humans and vampires have thoughts and feelings, as you should well know by now,” she answered, ignoring the insult to Ulfarr. “I meant only that certain types of demons are more bestial in nature, and some are lacking in anything but instincts to guide them.”
“So if we can’t reason with it, and I think it’s safe to assume we are about to find ourselves outmatched if we try to fight it, what can we do?” Zee asked.
“The Slayers must have a way of controlling this thing,” Selina said. “I do know of rituals for summoning demons, which must be how this one came to be here in the first place. Like with necromancy, if we can kill whoever the demon is bound to then that should free it from the magic currently binding it. There’s no guarantee it would ally with us though, even if it is one of the more intelligent of its kind. But at least it wouldn’t be focussed just on us. Demons thrive on pain and suffering and the Slayers would make as good a target for tormenting as any of us, so it’s fairly safe to assume that it would turn on them if given the chance. And if it is intelligent enough to reason with, it will likely be unable to disobey the one it’s bound to until we can free it.”
“That leaves the small problem of a demon on the loose once it’s finished dragging everyone in here down to Hell,” Gwyn replied. “We could let it slaughter our enemies for us while we escape but what about when it’s had its fun here and moves on? Can you really see it going back to Hell with all the games it can play up here?”
“Let the humans deal with their own mess,” Lady Sarah hissed.
“And what if our kind are caught up in that slaughter?” Zee answered. “I agree with Gwyn, we can’t just set it free and leave it to run amok.”
“I might be able to work a banishment ritual if we can find the right tools I’d need in the main base. If the Slayers have a spellcaster in there then there should be at least some of the most basic ingredients for working any witchcraft.”
“We still have to get past the demon to escape into the main part of the building,” I pointed out. “And we’re pretty sure we can’t beat it in a fair fight.”
“It would seem our best hope is to try and escape through that window,” Zee said. “If we can’t defeat the demon, all we can do is hold it off for long enough to make an escape possible.”
“Even that will not be easy when only two of us are fit to fight,” Lady Sarah replied.
“I can still fight,” I growled.
“You will be a liability, Nick. At the moment you’re as good as human and as if that weren’t bad enough against the kind of powerful foe we’re about to face, you’re also wounded. You would do better to stay back with Selina, Amy and Gwyn once the battle starts.”
“Lady Sarah’s right, you’re too vulnerable at the moment. She and I will have to keep the beast busy. You four focus on finding a way up to the window and if we can, we will use our power to break the glass for you.”
“Won’t the window be as tough to break through as that one in the passage back there, though?” I said, not happy at leaving the fighting to them. I knew it made sense for me to stay back with the other three but I still didn’t like it. I also knew they may well both be sacrificing themselves to allow us to escape, if the creature was every bit as powerful as the terror its mere scent induced in us all suggested. Even if we could successfully break through the window, the odds of them being able to slip away from the demon and into the room beyond were slim at best, and it might take us time to track down whoever had summoned the creature to our realm – probably longer than they would be able to survive against it.
“We have to try,” Zee answered me. “There doesn’t seem to be any other options.”
Selina clearly wasn’t happy with this plan either but she knew of the six of us, currently only those two had enough power between them to stand any chance of not being crushed the instant the fight began. Unless we could give Gwyn the darkness he needed to become something more than human, but I had a feeling David would have thought of something to prevent that since he seemed to have planned for everything else so far. There was also the matter of Amy. I would have preferred to keep her out of the fight completely, though that would mean leaving her locked out of the chamber (assuming it would seal itself to prevent us escaping like the others had) with only the barghest to guard her, and there was no guarantee we’d be able to come back for her if we successfully made it into the main part of the building. I knew it was better to keep her close as we made our escape but I didn’t like putting her in harm’s way.
Lady Sarah interrupted my thoughts. “We shouldn’t delay too long. We can’t know f
or sure that the demon won’t attack.”
“One more moment,” I replied, turning to Amy. “This is going to be more dangerous than anything else you’ve seen so far. Hold tight to Varin and if we tell you to do anything, you have to do it without question, do you understand?”
“I think so. Will we go straight home after we escape?”
“Yes. I don’t want to worry you anymore than you probably are already but this might not go to plan. I swear we’ll do everything to see you home safe but there’s a chance I won’t make it with you. So I have to ask, can you forgive me for killing Hannah?”
And everyone else, I added silently. But she didn’t seem to have connected the dots where my other kills were concerned yet.
She nodded. “I hadn’t known her that long; we only met after moving house. But you’re my brother. I still love you even if you’re a werewolf. What was she doing in here anyway?”
“Hang on, you moved?”
“Losing you and Dad hit us hard,” she said quietly. “We needed a fresh start – too many ghosts in what used to be our family home.”
“And David still found you…”
That worried me. I supposed if they hadn’t gone too far it probably wouldn’t have been that hard for him, especially with all of the Slayers’ resources at his disposal once he’d joined them. And as for Hannah. I thought back to her last words and the pieces began to fall into place.
“Wait, David as in your best friend David?” Amy asked.
“Not anymore,” I growled, then answered her previous question. “We can’t know for sure why Hannah was down here, but I suspect David threatened her and put her up to befriending you in the first place. He used her to get to you, and through you to get to me. I think he wanted her in here to make things that little bit more personal, and he gave her the task of injecting me with whatever that serum was that’s stopping me transforming. I think he threatened the lives of her family if she didn’t go along with it, even though she would have to sacrifice herself to play her part. Or maybe she didn’t know she was going to end up dead until it was too late. Either way, that would be my best guess for why she was imprisoned with us. But it is only a guess.”
