by Jeff Gunhus
I didn’t know what to say. Even at my age, even though I’d never been in love, I understood the pain in Gregor’s voice. Ask any orphan if they know what it’s like to lose someone they love, and the look in their eyes alone will be enough of an answer. The image of Gregor and the Lord of the Vampires facing one another in the middle of the desert, still in love, but knowing they were to be enemies for the centuries ahead was almost too much to bear.
“What happened then?” I whispered.
“I turned to leave, and I thought she might strike me down. She was more powerful than I would ever be because of her ancient blood. But she didn’t move. I walked and walked. When I was miles into the desert, I finally looked back and she was still there, no more than a thin shadow on top of the dune, the massive setting sun directly behind her. I’ve killed thousands of vampires since then. Tens of thousands if you believe the songs sung about me. And for what? My tribe is still gone. Vampires are more abundant than ever. There are rumors about a Creach army on the rise under that madman Ren Lucre. I accomplished nothing except to live with centuries of loneliness and regret. And there is no greater waste of a lifetime than one filled with regret.”
“What is it that you regret most?” I asked.
“That moment in the desert,” he whispered without hesitation. “When I could have forgiven and did not. When I could have understood but refused to. I regret most that I allowed that sunset on the sand dunes to be the last moment I laid eyes on the only woman I truly loved.”
On the word sunset, I glanced nervously at the shuttered windows in the dark room. Where there used to be bold rays of sun streaming in, now only a faint light from the streetlamps outside leaked through. I jerked as a loud THUMP hit the shutter. A THUMP at the other window made me jump to my feet. I tracked the sound of dozens of feet running on the roof.
Gregor stood and stretched. “It sounds as if we have spoken too long.” He met my eye and spoke quickly. “I will give you a gift that will help you win your quest. A terrible weapon designed and forged to kill vampires in the most horrific way.”
“By fire?” I asked.
He made a clucking sound with his tongue. “No, this weapon forces vampires to experience the pain and suffering of every soul they have killed. The older the vampire, the more terrible the death.” He paused, giving me time to absorb the idea. “But remember that your Templar blood will prove essential to your success. It is everything. It is the key.” He eyed me with an arched eyebrow. “That is important.”
“I understand,” I said, even though I really didn’t. More thumps sounded above us. “Where is this weapon?”
“It’s far away from here, carefully hidden from the world. I will not allow it to fall into the wrong hands. You are aware there are powerful Creach who can see into your thoughts?”
I nodded, reminded that Aquinas had given me the same warning.
“So I will give you a riddle. It will mean nothing if it is taken from your mind, but it will hopefully be enough to get you where you need to be.”
More heavy thumps hit the shutters, sounding like massive birds flying into them. I remembered the bars on the outside and was thankful for them. Gregor snapped his fingers and made a disapproving hissing sound.
“Focus here. Listen carefully as I’ll only say this once. You must use the head to understand.
“Start in the place where beginnings meet ends.
Look for a roost that a creature defends.
Once it ate someone who carried his head,
Now hides a talisman vampires all dread.”
I stared at him blankly, not a single clue what he was talking about. Before I had a chance to ask him anything, he pulled me in closer, his face right in front of mine.
“Solve that riddle and you’ll have your edge. A weapon I left hidden years ago when the killing became pointless. It’s more powerful than you can imagine, so it comes with great responsibility. You must use the head, you understand?”
I thought I did, but I knew this was no time to appear unsure. I nodded.
“Good,” Gregor said, brows furrowed. “And you understand why I gave you my story? Why it was important for you to know that Shakra, Lord of the Vampires, was once named Caroline. And that I loved her?”
This part I understood. I nodded and met his eyes. “You can trust me,” I said. “On my honor.”
Gregor searched my eyes and nodded, satisfied. Just then, the door from the other room burst open, and Eva and Daniel rushed in.
“Gods almighty, can’t you hear them?” Eva hissed. “They’re all over the building. What are the two of you doing in here?”
I ignored Eva and turned to Gregor. “Come with us,” I said. “To Paris. You can help us.”
The noise on the roof grew louder. Chunks of plaster fell loose from the roof.
“They’re digging in through the roof,” Daniel said.
Will, T-Rex and Xavier ran in. “They’re almost through the windows in there,” Will said.
I barely heard any of it. I watched Gregor’s face as he considered for the briefest moment coming with us. Perhaps even reliving in his mind the experience of reuniting with Caroline. But, just as quickly, it was gone, and his expression hardened. Gone was the innkeeper or the storyteller. Standing in front of us was Gregor the Terrible, the greatest vampire hunter in the history of the Black Watch.
There was no need for him to tell me his answer to my question. He and I both understood that if I had any chance to get away, the payment would be his life. I wondered whether he had stretched out his story until now for this exact reason.
“Listen carefully,” he said. “Down the hall, there’s a door for what looks like a service elevator. Pry open the doors. Use the ropes to go down to the cellar. There is a system of tunnels there with traps set for those who do not know the way. Go right, then right again, pass three turns, left and then right. Don’t deviate. Don’t get lost. Now go!”
“What about you?” Eva asked.
Gregor lifted a sword from the table and gave Eva a wink. “Me? I’m tired of running. I intend to end on a bright note.” He knocked over the candle nearest him. The flame immediately ignited the dry carpet on the floor and spread to the thin curtains. He walked from candle to candle, knocking them over.
Eva started to protest, but I took her arm and pulled her to the hallway. “Come on, he’s made his decision.”
Daniel led the rest of the group out of the room and Eva reluctantly followed. As I turned, I heard Gregor call. “Jack,” he said, standing in the middle of what was now an inferno. “If you see her…tell her…” He stalled, lost for words. But I knew. Unquestionably, I knew.
“I will tell her,” I promised.
He nodded with a sad smile. “You’re a good lad, Jack. I’m sorry for the pain you and your family have been through…and my part in it. I hope you’ll one day forgive an old man.” Before I could ask what he meant by this, he held up his hand, his face grim once again. “Now go. Before it’s too late. Go and do your duty,” he cried as a fiery timber in the roof fell between us. The flames leapt up, obscuring him from view.
“Come what may,” I shouted back over the hiss and crackle of the fire. “I swear it.”
Through the flames, I saw Gregor close his fist to his chest and raise it toward me in the salute of the Black Watch. I returned the gesture, then turned and ran out of the room to join my friends, knowing the escape ahead of us would not be easy.
Chapter Eight
We found the service elevator easily enough. It had a door that lifted from the bottom and rolled up like a garage door. Daniel had it pried open by the time I got there, and Xavier and Will were already shimmying down the ropes that hung down the shaft.
Behind us, the fire raged as it tore through the house. The hissing screams of the djinn on the roof and outside the wall mixed in with the crackle and pop of centuries old wood bursting into flames. Eva grabbed my arm.
“Is he really staying?” she a
sked. “There’s no way he’ll survive that. We should help him.”
I shook my head. “He wants it this way. The way to honor his wish is to make his sacrifice worthwhile.” An explosion erupted in the back of the house, causing the entire structure to shudder.
“Jump!” I yelled.
T-Rex was already in the elevator shaft so that left Daniel, Eva and myself. We scrambled through the door and jumped onto the ropes with Will, Xavier and T-Rex dangling beneath us.
I was the last one to jump. When I swiveled around on the rope, I swung out and grabbed the top of the elevator door.
Stuck!
I pulled harder but it wouldn’t budge. On quick inspection, I saw the problem. The sliding door was armored, which made sense for Gregor’s escape route. Because it was so heavy, it was attached to a counter balance to make it easy to lift, but the chain right above me had come off track. I reached up and yanked on it. Nothing.
Outside the elevator shaft, a djinn crashed through a wall, its clothes blazing fire. It fell to the floor, then staggered to its feet at the far end of the hallway. It spotted me and let out a piercing scream.
“Leave the door!” Eva yelled. “Let’s go.”
The house shook with another explosion. A fireball surged down the hallway toward us.
“Fire!” I shouted. “Get down!”
I heard something whizz past my ear and strike the chain to the counterbalance. The chain broke and the door crashed down just as the wall of flame reached us.
Even with the door closed I felt a blast of heat, and flame licked under the bottom edge. But we were safe.
I looked down just as Eva lowered her wrist-mounted crossbow. A quick glance over to where the chain had been told me there’d been less than an inch clearance past my head for her to make the shot and shut the door. All done while she was swinging on a rope in the middle of an elevator shaft. I wasn’t sure whether I should be impressed with the shot or mad she had almost killed me. A loud hammering on the door next to me told me I didn’t have time for either reaction. The djinn were still on our trail.
“Down, down, down,” I cried.
We all fast-rappelled down the ropes like we’d trained at the Academy. One leg wrapped a single time around the rope to act as a brake and the hands used for balance in a barely controlled free-fall. The shaft went down deeper than I thought. Gregor had talked about a cellar, but we plummeted at least fifty feet before we reached the bottom.
Plummeted is the right word too. Near the bottom, the doors above finally blew out, cutting the ropes. Fortunately, we only fell the last few feet and landed in a tangle of legs and arms on soft foam pads that broke our fall.
I landed on my back, looking back up the shaft. Lucky. I spotted the metal doors crashing their way down the shaft toward us.
“Watch out!” I yelled.
We all scrambled out of the way just as the twisted, metal doors slammed into the ground where we’d been only seconds before.
“That was close,” T-Rex whispered.
“Where are we?” Eva asked.
“It’s the cellar. There are tunnels that lead out of here,” I said.
A flashlight came on. Of course it was Xavier. He was always prepared. “We’re not in the basement,” he said, shining his beam on the brick, arched ceiling where we stood. “I think this is the sewer system. Going back to the Romans, I’d say.”
“I don’t care if Martians built it,” Daniel said. “We need to get out of here. It’s not going to take long for the djinn to figure out we slipped away.”
As if on cue, a howl filled the elevator shaft behind us. The djinn had found us. Daniel held out his hand as if presenting evidence to a jury.
“You’re right,” I said. “Gregor gave me specific instructions of how to navigate the tunnels. He said not to deviate from the path. No matter what.”
The howl was replaced with a chorus of hissing and clicking. I couldn’t help myself. I snuck a look up the elevator shaft. It was filled with dozens of djinn climbing down the walls toward us.
“Do you see anything?” Will called from behind.
When I turned around, my face must have said everything because the others suddenly looked terrified. “Time to go,” I said.
We all ran down the passageway. I repeated Gregor’s instructions in my head. Go right, then right again, pass three turns, left and then right. Don’t deviate. Don’t get lost.
We were running so hard, I almost missed the first right turn.
“Here!” I yelled. We darted down a smaller tunnel, still large enough for us to stand in but only barely. Xavier, who had the only flashlight, pointed it to the ground. Without his saying it, I knew we had a problem. The floor here was a damp soil that our shoes churned up with every step. A blind beggar could easily follow our trail.
“Should I turn off the flashlight?” Xavier asked.
Between our trail in the dirt and our scent, I guessed that the djinn could follow us in the pitch black. We were at more risk of getting lost or one of us slamming our heads into a low archway. “No, leave it on. Here, this is our next turn.”
This tunnel was smaller still, and we had to go into it single file. I borrowed the flashlight from Xavier and went first. Daniel brought up the rear with everyone else in between. Pass three turns, left and then right. Don’t deviate. Don’t get lost.
We passed the first turn, a tiny tunnel that came up to my waist. Then we reached the second turn. I stopped, suddenly unsure. There was a turn, a medium sized tunnel on my right. And then another tunnel branched out to my left. They didn’t exactly match up as one tunnel, but they were close. I was faced with a problem. Did this count as one turn or two? Behind us, the howls erupted as the djinn caught our scent.
“Jack? What are you doing?” Will called.
“Just a second,” I replied. “I need to think.”
“We need to hurry,” Daniel hissed.
I tried to block them out and think. Whether this counted as one turn or two, we still needed to make our way to the next turn. The question was whether we took that turn or not. I hustled forward and heard everyone following close behind.
As the tunnel became more and more narrow, I started to feel claustrophobic. In the Trial of the Caves back at the Academy, I had faced the very real danger of being trapped underground without food, water or light. It’s one thing to imagine how horrifying that might be, but it’s quite another to actually experience it. Many nights since then, I’d bolted up in bed at night and found a light or a flame to stare into, trying to chase back the heavy darkness of my nightmares. This was the nightmare made real again. If I made the wrong choice here, who knew how long we could be lost underground?
Not only that, but I wasn’t excited at all to run into any of Gregor’s booby-traps in the other tunnels. No, I had to make the right decision. It was as simple as that.
We quickly came to the next tunnel. If you could call it that. It was a narrow tube not much taller than my knee. I had to take a double-look at it to decide whether T-Rex would even fit in it. Pass three turns, left and then right. Don’t deviate. Don’t get lost.
Technically, we had passed three turns. The first was simple. The second one we could have either turned right or turned left. Two turns. But if someone gave you directions on city streets and said make your third turn, you wouldn’t come to an intersection and count the road to the left and right as two different turns, right? But had the tunnels been a few feet out of alignment? Not really a single tunnel cutting through but two separate tunnels feeding into the main line in close enough spots to make it seem like they were one tunnel? I had to make a decision.
“This is it,” I said, indicating the small tunnel. I gave Xavier his flashlight back. “Take the lead, Xavier. I’ll bring up the rear.” The young hunter nodded, cinched up his backpack, got on his hands and knees, and prepared to climb in. I grabbed him at the last second. “If for some reason I don’t make it, turn left your first chance. And then r
ight. That should take us out here and to safety. No other turns. Got it?”
“Got it,” Xavier said. He looked scared to death. I nearly forgot that he wasn’t made for fieldwork but more for a lab or a library. I patted him on the back and grinned.
“You’re doing great,” I said. “Keep it up.”
This brought a smile to his face. He bucked up and, with new purpose, climbed into the tunnel. The flashlight disappeared with him, and everything went dark. Only the faintest glow leaked out from around Xavier’s body so T-Rex could see the hole. He hesitated, maybe thinking the same thing I had when I first saw it. Will urged him on.
“C’mon, I’ll be right behind to give you a shove if you get stuck,” he said. A howl behind us settled the matter, and T-Rex climbed in. He fit. But just barely. Will followed right behind. Eva climbed in after him. When I looked up and saw Daniel, I realized something was wrong. I shouldn’t have been able to see him at all. Any light from Xavier’s flashlight was blocked by the others in the tunnel behind him. Daniel and I should have been in total darkness, only we weren’t. He was clearly silhouetted by an orange glow behind him.
“Down,” I shouted.
We both hit the floor as a barrage of arrows whizzed over our heads. I looked up and over Daniel. The djinn were right behind us, but they weren’t holding torches. It wouldn’t have made sense since they could see in the dark. The glow came from the djinn scrambling after us even though their robes were on fire. They shed these and kept chasing us.
“Get in,” I shouted to Daniel, motioning to the tunnel the others had gone down.
