Anger rushed through me. I pushed my way past Jacques and Rusk before they even noticed I was running. Jacques then tried to grab my arm but missed. The human servant realized who I was. He spun and ran into the dark corridor. I went after him without any hesitation.
A lantern moved up the tunnel behind me. I didn’t think it was Volya as she was too apprehensive about the doorways. One of the others must have grabbed her lantern and headed after me.
Other than the faint light behind me, complete darkness filled the tunnel ahead. I kept running. This man was not going to escape me. His footsteps thudded hard, and he sucked huge gulps of air as he ran. I knew where he was in front of me. The only real advantage he held was that he knew the tunnel and where it led. My rage blocked me from even caring.
The tunnel reeked of sewage and dead animals. There might have been outshoots that led to other rooms, but I kept my attention on the man ahead of me. His ragged breathing indicated he was about ready to collapse. His pace slowed so I chanced reaching out and grabbing for him. I caught the back of his shirt with my left hand and yanked him toward me. My big clumsy feet entangled with his, and we dropped hard to the brick floor.
He fell partially beneath me, face first, and my weight atop him brought a painful grunt from him. He gasped and groaned, trying to breathe. I panted, too. Sweat rolled off of me, but I didn’t move off of him, nor did I loosen my grip on his shirt collar.
The lantern carrier turned out to be Jacques. He knelt to the side of us.
“Are you mad, Forrest?” he asked. “You have no idea where this tunnel leads or how many vampires might be hiding down here.”
I tightened my hand around the man’s collar and pressed my weight down on him, smashing his face against the dirty bricks. “I don’t care. This is one of the baron’s human servants. He’s the one that gave us the baron’s threat the day Momma died. If we let him go, he will warn Randolph. We cannot risk that.”
“So what exactly do you plan to do?”
“The exact same thing the baron had the other servant do to my mother.”
“You can’t,” the man said.
I pushed myself partway up and buried my knee into the small of his back. He groaned.
“Watch me,” I replied.
“If you kill me,” he said, “Baron Randolph will awaken. He will feel my pain. Right now he sleeps.”
I pressed the point of my stake to the side of his throat. “I don’t trust you.”
“Did I lie to you before?” he asked. “I didn’t. You know that I didn’t. I simply did as my master bid. I gave you his message.”
Jacques placed a hand on my shoulder. “Listen to him. If he’s telling the truth, Randolph will know that we’re here.”
“And if he’s lying, he goes free and might run to warn the baron.”
“Forrest,” Jacques said, lifting the lantern so I could see his face. “If you kill him, it’s not the same as killing a vampire. He’s still a human. It’s murder. The body doesn’t dissolve into ash.”
I swallowed hard. Tears heated my eyes. Slowly I eased the sharp stake away from the man’s throat. “What do we do with him?”
“Let him up,” Jacques said.
I rose to my feet, grabbed the man’s collar, and yanked him to his feet. I didn’t lessen my grip though.
Jacques looked at the man. “Why have you chosen to be the baron’s servant?”
Fear widened the man’s eyes. “I have no choice.”
“We all have choices,” Jacques said. His voice deepened. “I’m giving you a choice right now.”
“To do what?”
Jacques raised the lantern with his hair-covered hand and offered it to me. I took it.
“Whether you face your death, or flee.”
Jacques yanked the medallion from his neck and shoved it into his coat pocket. He flexed his entire body, releasing a series of harsh growls as his bones, muscles, and sinews snapped and crackled. Then he released one long howl. The servant yanked free of my hold and sprinted away into the dark tunnel.
In werewolf form, Jacques snarled and ran after the servant. Less than a minute later, a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the tunnel. I held the lantern up, trying to see, but Jacques carried the man deeper into the darkness where I couldn’t witness whatever he did to the man. The echoing sounds didn’t sound pleasant, and I didn’t know that I had the stomach to watch. My curiosity after hearing the slashes and tears and the man’s whimpering made me wish I were much farther away.
Even if what the servant said wasn’t true about his pain and death awakening the baron, I didn’t think the terrorizing sounds had gone unnoticed.
I turned and headed back toward the stairwell to join the others. When I reached the others, Volya and her brother stared toward the door where I emerged with a heightened sense of terror. I handed her the lantern.
Rusk, however, was only seconds from turning into a werewolf. His eyes held the wildness of a wolf. Perhaps it was hearing Jacques change, I don’t know. Rusk held his medallion in his hand while he took huge gulps of air, closing his eyes like he was trying to fight the rising beast inside.
After he calmed, he placed a gentle hand on Volya’s shoulder and motioned for her to continue. We headed down to the next level, minus one of our party. I wasn’t certain when Jacques might return to join us, but after the echoing disturbance, I wouldn’t have been too surprised to see the baron awaiting our arrival.
At the bottom of the steps we only had one more set of stairs to descend. Volya hurried past the door this time, anxious to get to the lower floor where the baron’s chambers were supposed to be. We rounded the column and as Volya stepped upon the first step, something emerged from the side door and grabbed Hoval, yanking him into the corridor.
“Volya!” he screamed, but his voice faded down the tunnel.
“Hoval!” she turned and ran toward the tunnel.
Dominus stepped between her and the door. He shook his head. “Let me check for you. Stay here.”
He reached down with his left hand, grabbed Hoval’s lantern off the door, and stepped into the tunnel with his crossbow ready to fire.
Chapter Thirty-four
Volya stood at the threshold, holding her lantern, and desperately watching. I stepped beside her with a stake in hand.
Dominus fired his crossbow. A few seconds later, Hoval ran through the door, clutching his throat. Blood seeped through his fingers. Volya set her lantern on the floor and hugged him tightly.
“You killed it?” Zsolt asked Dominus.
He nodded.
“Good.”
Dominus pulled Hoval free of Volya’s grasp. He took a bottle of holy water and uncorked it, handing it to her. “Put this on his bite to boil out possible infection.”
She looked at the bottle with skepticism but when she noticed Hoval’s pleading eyes, she poured it. Steam boiled from the bite mark. Her eyebrows rose.
Hoval fought screaming, and Zsolt gripped the young man’s elbows to prevent him from running away. When she was able to pour the holy water without any bubbling on the flesh or her brother suffering pain, Zsolt told her to stop.
“He’s okay,” Zsolt said. “He’ll be fine.”
Tears crested in her eyes. She went to Dominus, placed her hand on his forearm, and rose to kiss his cheek. “Thank you. You saved him.”
Dominus smiled for a moment and then he pointed toward the stairs. He whispered, “We need to keep going.”
“It’s doubtful that he’s not expecting us,” I said.
Rusk nodded. “Watch out for one another, but as Dominus stated last night, kill any vampire that comes at you. We’re not keeping count. We just want to all walk out of here alive.”
Zsolt said, “Agreed.”
My father remained silent. With all of the distractions, I hadn’t really taken a moment to evaluate him. For one, he was my father and in my mind, one of the strongest men alive. But we stood only twelve steps above the room where Baron
Randolph resided. Father was pale and his haunted eyes were filled by obvious terror. Had the things he had tried to forget resurfaced because of the hypnosis?
“Father, are you okay?” I whispered.
He replied with a slight shrug. I almost wanted to leave him at the top of the stairs, but with Hoval being attacked at the door, it was too great a risk for Father to remain up here alone.
Volya was midway down the stairs with everyone else following in proceeding order except for Jacques. She paused at the final step. Candles flickered inside the chamber room. Lanterns hung in each corner of the room.
While I was thankful to see a well-lit room, I was surprised to find all of the heavy casket lids shut. No vampires were waiting outside of these coffins made from heavy carved stone. I wondered if the thickness of the stone had prevented sound from getting through. Of course Jacques’ disruption wasn’t even on this floor, and a lot depended upon how soundproof the walls and floors were, too.
Zsolt and Rusk headed to the casket closest to us. They tried to slide the heavy stone lid and couldn’t budge it. Rusk motioned for Dominus to help. I walked over with him since I was the largest one in the group.
Dominus shook his head. He made a hammering motion with his hand. Zsolt placed his mallet on top of the lid. I slid my stake into my pocket and placed my huge hands to the side of the lid near the top and shoved. The stone rattled and scraped against the sides of the walls. We moved it far enough to glimpse inside.
A female vampire lay with her arms crossed over her chest. Her alabaster skin nearly glowed beneath the flickering candle flames. Her pointed nose and thin lips gave her a distinguished appearance almost like royalty. Her high cheekbones and flowing black hair enhanced her beauty even more. She seemed too beautiful to stake.
If she breathed, she showed no signs of doing so. I wondered if she even had a pulse. Was she undead or really dead?
Zsolt grabbed the hammer and his stake and eased to the side of the stone coffin. His brow furrowed slightly and his eyes softened. I could tell he found it as difficult as I did to stake someone so lovely, but I kept reminding myself that she was a sleeping monster.
Rusk frowned at him.
Zsolt took a deep breath, leaned over the coffin and placed the tip of the stake slightly above her left breast. And one solid quick strike, he drove the stake through her heart. Her eyes flicked open for a brief second before she collapsed to heated ash.
“Fools!”
Volya screamed.
On the far end of the room, Baron Randolph stood, pointing a stern finger. Bodi stood to one side of the baron with the cross-shaped scar on his cheek. My father trembled when he looked at them. In what seemed like lost time, eleven vampires rushed toward us. Their stone coffin lids were cast aside before I even blinked.
I grabbed my father and pulled him behind me. I shoved a hand in each of my side pockets and drew out stakes. Dominus fired his crossbow, dropping one vampire into dust before she noticed his weapon. Two wild-eyed female vampires exposed fangs and rushed Dominus. They ripped the crossbow from his hand and rammed his back against the brick wall. I turned to pull one of them off but was struck firmly in the back by a large male vampire. I was falling toward an open casket, falling fast, and had only a moment to twist to my side so I didn’t slam my forehead against the solid rock casket wall.
The entire right side of my body ached, but I managed to roll onto my back. The vampire hissed and lunged for my throat. I thrust my left forearm beneath his throat, pressing him away from my neck. Without knowing where to aim, I speared his lower chest with the one stake. He clutched it and pulled back. Taking advantage of his ill thought move, I plunged the second stake through his heart. I scrambled to help Dominus, who had somehow managed to hold back the two females, but before I could reach him, another vampire tackled me.
Sharp claws sliced through the back of my heavy coat, ripping into my skin. I winced and shoved off the floor. I rose and turned, slamming my thick fist into its jaw. Its neck snapped and the momentum of my punch spun its entire body around. He dropped to the floor. Dust pillowed up like a brown cloud around him.
He wasn’t dead, but he struggled to move. I ran to Dominus and yanked away one of the females. She had bitten into his shoulder, and he was bleeding. It didn’t seem severe, but I didn’t have time to inspect it.
Dominus nodded his appreciation, reached into his pocket, and then he smashed a globe of holy water against the side of her face. She reeled backwards as her flesh blistered. She screamed. He came at her and flung the blessed salt over her blistering skin, making her screech in agony. This combination of weapons seemed his forte.
Snarls erupted behind me. I turned, expecting to see Rusk but it was Jacques. He ran to the vampire whose neck I had broken and tore into its back. Immediately following Jacques entrance, Rusk howled and began his transformation.
During all of commotion, I had lost track of my father. Glancing around the room, I finally noticed him. He was in the center of the sepulcher where he had pinned a female vampire to the floor. She gnashed her fangs and kept slapping away the stake as he tried to stake her. He still appeared to have the advantage.
My attention turned to Bodi. He stood beside Randolph and when he looked into my eyes, his mouth dropped slightly from recognition. His tiny fangs were visible. Sadness came to me. Remorse, too. I wished I could turn back the calendar and rescue him.
Ignoring everything else around me, I stalked down the center of the sepulcher floor, staring into the baron’s eyes with all of my fury. I seethed. If ever I hated anyone, it was this very moment and this pompous bastard.
I started to rush toward him and noticed the narrow gap in the floor where a layer of the brick foundation had collapsed. One misstep could drop me several feet or a hundred feet below, depending on the depth of the hole. His gold embroidered casket was also on a platform several feet higher than the floor where the other twelve caskets rested.
Baron Randolph studied me for a moment. His eyes peered sternly into mine. He attempted to lure me, but his power seemed weaker than the first time he had tried that. His eyes widened slightly. “You seem . . . stronger. But it’s no matter, really. You will become a new servant to this master.”
I ignore the statement.
“Are you responsible for this?” I demanded, pointing my finger toward Bodi. “Are you the monster who turned him?”
Randolph sneered in a condescending manner. “And if I am, peasant, what is it to you?”
“It is your death,” I replied.
“Kill me and you kill the boy,” he said.
“He’s already dead.”
“Why would the boy concern you?”
“He was my friend in school. That’s why. It takes a horrible monster to rob a child of his life.”
The baron gave a haughty grin. “Robbed him? He is blessed with living forever.”
“As what? A walking child corpse? His parents are brokenhearted over losing him. They hired my father to remove Bodi from this horrid lifestyle, so you tried to kill my father.”
Baron Randolph shrugged. “But I did succeed in having your mother killed, did I not?”
“You’ve caused enough pain in this world.”
“You wish to finish me?” he laughed.
My hand slipped to the dagger. I wondered why it hadn’t already taken control of the baron. I was a lot closer to Randolph than I had been to the master in Glodrim.
“You think your silver trinket will aid you, boy?” Randolph asked. He motioned his hand toward the right side of the room. The rocks were set in such a way that I hadn’t seen the hidden door. From this door stepped . . . Rose.
Chapter Thirty-five
I stared in disbelief.
Tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Forrest.”
I frowned and flicked my gaze toward the baron. He smiled.
“You seem surprised,” Randolph said.
I didn’t reply. I looked back at her. So m
any emotions struggled deep inside of me. I felt my shoulders soften.
“I tried to warn you, Forrest,” Rose said. “I told you not to come here.”
“You betrayed me but led me to believe someone else in my party would do that.” My hand went to my dagger.
“You don’t understand, Forrest. I was trying to warn you. I have no control over my being here,” she said, sobbing.
“Forrest,” Randolph said. “All you had to do that night was let me finish what I started. Let me kill your father, and you wouldn’t have to lose everything you cherished in this world. Now, look around you. This little gathering of yours will end horribly for you.”
“And why did you want him dead?” I asked.
“Because he had discovered what I am.”
Sounds behind me suddenly seemed louder. Through my shock, I supposed that I had blocked out everything else. I dared a glance back. Although we had killed several vampires, dozens more had come into the room from the stairs. I wanted to turn and help them.
Rusk and Jacques were the only ones not being detained by vampires. They were slashing and ripping their way through the vampires, but not having much success decapitating any of them.
“They have their orders, Forrest,” Randolph said. “Not to kill anyone until I give the command.”
“What do you want?”
“Yield your will to me, and they live,” he replied.
I leveled a harsh glare toward him.
Randolph attempted to draw me but failed. “There are rules in war. You needed to abide by them and obey.”
“There are no rules in this war. Not this time. Not anymore.”
Anger flared his nostrils.
I looked at Rose. “Why did you do this, Rose?”
“It was not me.”
Baron Randolph took her left hand into his and then he grabbed Bodi’s with his other. As he stood with his arms outstretched, he was quite vulnerable, but the only way I could even get to him was to leap across the gap in the floor and run up several steps to reach him. I could never get to him fast enough.
Forrest Wollinsky: Vampire Hunter [Book One] Page 25
