by Jasmine Walt
“It sounds horrible,” Luc replied, glancing at the owl statue and shivering.
“It is horrible,” I said, taking my first step onto the stairs and out of the statues’ combined gazes. “Thankfully, the two clans don’t work together much, but this?” I gestured at the statues. “This seems like they are working together, but what would make them do that?” I shuddered. “And what are they working on?”
“Nothing good, I’m guessing,” Luc sighed before following me down into the darkness below. He was right of course, whatever the two most powerful vampire castes were doing together wasn’t good. I’d seen other, smaller castes work together in the past, but that usually ended when the Dioscuri stepped in and put down the leaders. Dealing with vampires was sort of like dealing with cultists in that way. When you took out the leader, the caste usually fell apart, and the ones that didn’t were typically neutered.
I still wasn’t quite sure why we had let the Bears and the Owls get so powerful. I’d been told it was because they did a good job policing their own kind, and the anarchy caused by the power vacuum would be worse for everyone, especially since the founders of those castes didn’t do much. They were so ancient, nearly everything bored them. I suppose that by the time you’re a few thousand years old, you’ve done virtually everything you ever wanted to do.
That’s what scared me about this. It seemed like the castes were working together, and I doubted that would happen if the founders weren’t involved. Something had drawn the attention of Bob the Bear founder and Ariel the Owl founder. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I was pretty sure we were screwed. If both of them were involved, the only chance we’d have would be to call in the Dioscuri for backup and hope they had enough juice left to stand up to the most powerful vampires on the planet. Sadly, I didn’t like those odds.
“Well, no use wondering,” I grumbled as shadows flittered over the walls. “We should find out for sure what’s going on, you know, before we burn this place to the ground.”
“I can live with that plan,” Luc replied, his footsteps loud on the steps behind me.
The air grew colder and wetter as we moved downward, like we were walking into a deep dark cave filled with chilly ocean water. I shivered despite myself, half-tempted to draw upon some of my power to ward off the chill. I wasn’t going to do that because I might need the power later, but I wanted to do it.
After what felt like miles of stairway, we came to a landing with what looked like horizontal black sliding glass doors. The head of an enormous dragon was etched into the center so if the door opened it would be like entering the maw of the creature’s mouth.
The sight unnerved me because this symbol was out in the open. Before I’d seen it, I could have assumed the dragon was just some kind of ethereal representation of something and didn’t actually refer to anything to do with an actual dragon. This symbol changed everything, and I immediately tried to recall if there were any castes with a dragon as their symbol. I couldn’t think of any, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. Still, I doubted some tiny clan of vampires was going to have a place in a building with both the Bears and the Owls. Then again, tiny didn’t necessarily mean weak. Maybe a really old vampire had awoken? One who could make Bob and Ariel do his bidding? I sure as hell hoped not.
“I really hope this dragon imagery doesn’t mean there’s a real dragon here,” Luc whispered.
“I doubt it,” I said, hoping I was right. “After the greatest, read most evil, of the dragons was slain by his offspring when the earth was young, the dragon wars began. All but one of the remaining dragons had been banished to the farthest magical realms. Since then, only one dragon had ever been present on the earth at a time.”
“What happens if one of them comes back?” Luc asked. “Maybe that’s what has happened here?”
“The moment a new one comes, he or she will fight with the resident dragon for dominance. The loser will be cast back into the magical realms.” I shook my head. “I doubt that’s happened though. If one was around, my old mentor would know about it. After the last usurper was defeated, he swore an oath to protect the dragon currently living here.”
“That doesn’t actually assure me of anything,” Luc replied. “What if he just didn’t tell you about it?”
“Trust me, he’d have mentioned it when I saw him a few days ago. Dragons are a big deal.” As the words left my mouth, a bad feeling settled over me. I was really, really sure there wasn’t a new dragon around, so what was going on here? Why was I getting so much dragon imagery here? It didn’t make any sense. Then again, maybe it was some weird kind of symbolism? Or maybe the vampires had chosen a dragon to represent the combined efforts of both the Owl and Bear castes? I didn’t want to think about the damage they could do as allies.
The Dioscuri had barely survived the last civil war. I doubted they had the strength to hold off the combined forces of the vampires, especially if the Bears and the Owls rallied the other, smaller castes under their war banner. No, part of the reason the Dioscuri had kept the vampires under control was by letting them bicker among themselves. They did not need a common enemy, especially when that common enemy would be my people. And after we fell, who would keep humanity safe?
“Lillim, is everything okay?” Luc asked, and I realized I hadn’t moved in a while. I was just standing there staring at the glass dragon like an idiot.
“Yeah,” I said, exhaling slowly. “I was thinking about how the vampires may be planning on taking over the world and enslaving humanity. You know, vampire politics.”
“I’m not sure I like the sound of vampire politics.” Luc’s face paled. “Real politicians already want to bleed you dry.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Unfortunately, my laughter sounded foreign in the emptiness of the dark alcove. It made me pretty sure no one had ever laughed down here, at least not without maniacally stroking a cat.
“Let’s find out what’s through door number one,” Luc said, pointing past me with his shotgun.
“Okay,” I muttered, stepping off the last step and reaching out toward it to feel for any magical traps. I found one, mostly because the floor opened up, and I fell into the darkness below. The irony of having wanted to lead in order to find traps was not lost on me either.
11
“Are you okay?” Luc called from above. He seemed far away and blurry.
I lay on my back struggling to breathe. So I was still alive, that was good. It was a good thing they hadn’t filled the pit with spikes or acid or something.
“Yeah,” I called as the taste of blood filled my mouth. Already, I could feel my magic working within my body, burning my reserves to pull me back into fighting shape. “The concrete broke my fall.”
I didn’t hear Luc’s reply as I sat up and looked around. It wasn’t so dark that I couldn’t see, but there just wasn’t much inside the twenty square foot room. Bones littered the ground, reminding me of the time my mother had taken me into a hyena den. Only this time, I didn’t see any hyenas.
“I’m going to tie the rope off to the banister and lower it down for you,” Luc yelled from above.
“Okay!” I replied, getting to my feet and my ankle twinged like I’d sprained it. Not enough that I wouldn’t be able to walk on it, but it hurt enough to make me think I’d burn a lot of energy healing it. I sighed and let out a low breath. At least it wasn’t broken.
“Oh, a present,” whispered a voice from behind me which was weird because my back was to the wall. I spun around, examining the cinderblocks for clues but wound up finding nothing. Fear rushed through me. What had spoken?
“And she’s jumpy,” hissed another voice. I jumped, whirling around again in fright. My heart hammered in my chest. What the hell was going on here? Where were the voices coming from?
“Luc, hurry with that rope please!” I cried barely keeping the tremor out of my voice. Either he didn’t respond, or I didn’t hear him. I tried to keep from freaking out. Surely he was just tying
his rope off, right?
Something brushed against my leg, and I shrieked before I could stop myself. I swung Set at it, casting crimson light across the room and making shadowy forms leap across the mostly unlit room. There wasn’t anything there.
I took a hesitant step forward and my ankle screamed in pain. I bit my lip, focusing on driving the pain deep down inside myself. Warm, wet hair slithered across the back of my neck, making me feel like something was breathing on me. I whirled again, lashing out with my blades at the unseen attacker. Only there wasn’t anything there. My katana struck the wall, throwing up a cascade of blue sparks.
“Feisty ones always taste chewy,” the first voice said from below me. I leapt backward, landing lightly on the ball of my good foot before setting my other one down. I didn’t see anything there, but something had to be. If not, what was talking?
“Maybe we can dip her in chocolate?” the second voice asked, and the temperature in the room fell ten degrees. Gooseflesh sprouted on my arms as I wiped my face with the back of my hand. Despite the chill, I was sweating like crazy.
I shut my eyes and listened, trying to pick out the sounds of movement from where the voice came from, but the only thing I heard was my own frantic heartbeat.
“Lillim, grab the rope!” Luc called from above, and my eyes snapped open to see his paracord dangling there. I let out a little squeak of relief and sheathed my weapons so I could get the hell out of here.
The ground rumbled under me, writhing like I was standing on a wriggling serpent. My legs went out from under me, and I toppled forward onto the hard ground. My vision went a little blurry around the edges as I clung to the ground to keep from slipping off.
The rope swayed above me, and as I tried to reach out for it, a blood curdling scream filled my ears. I dropped to the ground just as a thousand flapping bats came bursting through the room in a flurry of wings, fangs, and claws.
I shut my eyes against the din, hoping with all my might none would get stuck in my hair as I buried my face in my arms. It felt like it lasted forever, but their flight eventually stopped. I opened one hesitant eye to see the space above me clear of bats. It wasn’t that I was afraid of them or anything, but I’d been left alone in one too many dark caves to actually like the creatures. They tended to get tangled in my hair and getting them out was a pain in the ass.
The rope still hung there, drifting along the side, and I took a hesitant step toward it, careful to keep one hand out for balance. My fingers closed around the cord and a breath I hadn’t known I’d been holding exploded from me. Relief washed over me as I wrapped it around my hands and braced myself for Luc to pull me up.
“Okay, Luc. I’m ready,” I called up the hole. No response. Not even a tug on the other end.
I focused on keeping the panic inside my stomach from rising up and overwhelming me even as the hair stood on the back of my neck. No… no, he was up there. He was going to pull me up… any second now.
The rope tightened like someone was yanking on it. My heart sang in relief just before the other end came falling toward me. Horror exploded through me as my lifeline smacked emptily to the ground next to me.
“No… no, no, no,” I mumbled, staring at the rope in disbelief as hysteria threatened to overwhelm me. Then I remembered I was supposed to be badass. It helped. A little.
I called upon my magic, forcing it to fill me with strength. It was too high for me to jump straight up, but I could do this another way. I pulled my swords from their sheaths and with one focused effort, leapt as far into the air as I could before driving my wakazashi straight into the stone. The magic-infused blade stabbed into the rock like it was made of soft cheese. I jerked to a stop, hanging there by one arm as my shoulder strained.
With one concentrated effort, I swung my body like it was a pendulum, and as I reached the top of my arc, I drove my katana into the stone. It sank in like my wakazashi had, and for a moment, I hung there, trying to catch my breath as sweat poured down my body. Then a small head poked over the side and grinned at me. It was the same girl Luc had saved, but she looked different now, and not just because her hair had changed from black to blonde. Still, I knew it was her, and the smile on her face told me one thing. She was a vampire, and we should never have saved her.
She dropped Luc’s unconscious body over the edge. I had about half a second to think about what to do before he slammed into me like a sack of wet laundry. My grip slipped from my swords and we both tumbled to the ground. He landed first, and I toppled on top of him which was good for me since he broke my fall. I lay there, staring up at the hole as the lid slowly closed, leaving me shrouded in darkness.
“See, this was why I never save anyone. Or help people. Or am generally a nice person,” I told Luc’s unconscious body with annoyance. I’d been feeling bad about wanting to drop a grenade down the feeding hole, but if we had, that vampire would be dead now. Probably.
He responded with a moan as I shoved myself off of him and tried to see through pitch black darkness. “If I had a nickel for every time I helped someone who wound up betraying me…”
I got up and looked around, not that it did any good. My swords were wedged into the stone above me, but I wasn’t quite sure where exactly in the wall they were and something about leaping up and trying to grab a pair of razor sharp samurai swords in the dark seemed like a recipe for disaster.
Instead, I extended my hand out in front of me and focused my will. I exhaled, breathing into my palm, and as I did so, I willed light to exist. A small sphere of light sprang to life in my palm, casting a soft, effervescent glow around the tiny chamber. I wasn’t sure how, maybe it was the encroaching darkness, but the room seemed much smaller now.
Either way, I had to hurry. While I could use magic without a focus, doing so would drain my energy faster than if I was using an object designed to let me focus my magic through it, you know, like my swords. I held my glowing hand up toward the wall and spied my blades, still stuck there. I made my way over to the wall and jumped with everything I had.
My fingers wrapped around Set’s hilt, and I dangled there for a moment. I shut my eyes, willing the small sphere of light into my weapon, and as I did so, a small strain eased off my mind. When I opened my eyes, my wakazashi was glowing with soft red light, and from up here, it was enough to cast the whole room in reddish haze. There was still nothing here but bones, but unlike before, something about the darkness felt hungry and oppressive.
I needed to find a way out of here. I swung myself around and grabbed my katana before jerking both weapons out of the wall. I landed hard on the ground and agony ripped through my hurt ankle. This time, I didn’t bother to stifle my cry. Who was going to hear anyway?
“Lillim, I think you should look at this,” said a familiar ghostly voice from across the room.
I glanced in its direction to see a man standing there with short, spiked black hair. He was kneeling in front of a grate I hadn’t noticed. His back was to me, but even from here I could tell he was muscular beneath his thin white t-shirt and jeans. The sight of him came as a relief. This particular ghost almost never showed his face when other people were nearby. For him to appear to me now meant we were well and truly alone. And also that Luc was good and truly unconscious, but hey, everything can’t be all lemonade and sunshine.
“Nice of you to show yourself, Mattoc,” I said, ambling toward my ghost, and as I did so, a spot above my left breast throbbed with cold. Yeah, that’s right. I have my own ghostly charge. Hisen Mattoc had been a tough as nails assassin like fifty years ago, and somehow, he had grown rather attached to Dirge. Then, when I was reborn, he came along for the ride.
Now he was anchored to me, and it was just awesome. Especially because since he never really came out around other people, I almost always forgot he was around. When I remembered, it was usually while I was doing something I wouldn’t want him to see me doing. Like showering.
Still, having a ghost around was useful at times, like when y
ou needed someone incorporeal to look through a wall and tell you what was on the other side or to distract a room full of bad guys with machineguns. It went without saying that bullets didn’t hurt him.
Mattoc tossed me a look that told me to ‘deal with it,’ and went back to running his insubstantial fingers along the grate so the tips vanished into the metal. “I think there’s a way out through here,” he said, poking his entire head through the grating so all I could see were his shoulders. His head popped back into view. “It looks like some kind of banquet hall down there.” He glanced around the room and stood up, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he strode over to me.
“What makes you so sure?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.
“I think you might be where they keep the entrees,” he replied, ignoring me and pointing at the floor. “See how the floor slopes down toward the grate? I bet it’s so they can bleed people out in here, and the blood flows into the grate. It looks like there’s a funnel on the other side for the blood to flow down into one of those fountain things.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and it was then I realized there was writing on his shirt. It read, ‘I’m with stupid.’
I growled and trudged past him toward the grate. “So instead of a champagne fountain, the vampires have a blood fountain? Next you’ll be telling me there’s a whole bunch of empty glasses next to it.”
“You know, when you guess what’s down there before I tell you, it sort of sucks the joy out of it,” Mattoc replied before snapping his fingers at me. “Now get with the manhandling of the grate so we can escape. I’m not fond of the idea of my only anchor to the mortal world being consumed like a hors d’oeuvre.”
“I love you too, Mattoc,” I replied, fixing him with my best acidic stare before sheathing my swords and kneeling down next to the grate. As soon as I touched it, a chill washed through me. I snatched my hand back. “It’s cold…”
