The Invoker: A Lawson Vampire Novel 2 (The Lawson Vampire Series)

by Jon F. Merz

  "We’re running out of time," I said. "If you can’t figure something out soon, we’ll have to find another way inside the mountain."

  "Another way?" Wirek poked a finger at the stone door. "Lawson, this is the only way."

  "No fire exits?"

  "Not unless you happen to be inside the mountain. Then there are a few other routes to get outside but you have to be inside to use them. Trying to get inside using one of them would be suicide."

  "Why’s that?"

  "They’re booby trapped."

  "Booby traps can be disarmed, Wirek."

  "Not these, my friend. They’re magical."

  Tiny coughed behind us. "Magical? As in hocus-pocus?"

  Wirek turned to him. "Hey, you’re the one convinced the world’s gonna end if the constellations get any closer. That’s pretty out there and you don’t hear me calling it into question."

  Tiny shrugged. "Sorry."

  "You guys all finished? We don’t have time to debate personal belief systems." I shook my head. "Wirek, there’s gotta be another way inside. I can’t imagine this place being built with only one entrance."

  "Well, if there is, I don’t know about it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s this door only."

  "What about those sentries we passed. Did they use this door as well?"

  "Sure. Why wouldn’t they?"

  "Just that they’re positioning on the mountain seemed a bit removed from here. It’s a long way to walk if they came out of this door."

  Wirek nodded. "It’s possible there are other entrances. I was only here a few times and I never did go to this school. But we don’t have time to go searching in the dark looking for what are sure to be carefully concealed entrances."

  He had a point. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, we were on a big mountain and there were probably a huge number of crevices, nooks and crannies that would take us weeks if not months to properly explore. And we didn’t have a map of the place so we’d have to go by pure luck.

  And I don’t happen to like entrusting my future to luck.

  The chanting suddenly grew louder. I turned toward the door at the same time Tiny and Wirek did.

  "Shit," said Wirek. "It’s opening."

  And it was.

  The massive rock door groaned, slowly creaking open on unseen hinges. Light spilled forth from the growing fissure, illuminating the surrounding area as it opened like a yawning maw.

  Tiny tugged my shoulder and pointed.

  A shadow broke the stream of light.

  Someone was coming out of the mountain.

  I glanced at Wirek. He was already pressing himself into the side of the trail close to the door. I knew he’d try to get in behind the shadow. That way he’d be inside and could open the door if Tiny and I got occupied killing this person.

  Tiny quietly unsheathed his kukri and shrank into the shadows of the mountain. I scrunched down behind a large boulder.

  The chanting grew louder now.

  I heard a rough hacking cough.

  Then a hefty spit.

  And then someone started speaking.

  "Fucking miserable ass duty."

  His footsteps ground snow, ice, and small pebbles underfoot as he came closer to the boulder.

  I readied myself.

  I could see his shadow cast by the light inside the mountain looming large.

  Adrenaline flooded my system.

  My heartbeat tripled.

  Then I heard a swift chunking sound followed by Tiny’s voice. "The sword, Lawson – do it now!"

  I stood up and saw Tiny had neatly decapitated the man but his body was still standing upright. I yanked the bokken off of my back and plunged it into his sternum, penetrating the chest cavity and the man’s heart.

  Instantly, a surge of blood erupted, spraying out of his neck, coating the nearby rocks. I pulled the bokken back out and wiped it on a patch of scraggy lichen.

  I’d clean it properly later. I had the distinct feeling it was going to get a lot dirtier before the night was through.

  Wirek waved at us from the opening, his voice a harsh whisper. "Move your asses! The door’s starting to close!"

  I stood and sprinted for the opening. Tiny made the door just in time.

  He looked at me. "Sorry, I had to dump the head."

  "What’d you do with it?"

  "Tossed it over the side of the trail."

  "What about the body?" asked Wirek.

  "No time to hide it," I said. "We’ll just have to take our chances. If someone notices it, we’ll already be inside anyway. Most likely we’ll be neck deep in bodies."

  Wirek looked nervous so I said, "Don’t worry. There shouldn’t be anyone coming in from the mountain anyway, not since Siben and Chudao disposed of the other sentries."

  "They got the sentries on this side of the mountain," said Wirek. "What about the other side?"

  "Like I said. We’ll just have to take our chances."

  He nodded. The situation wasn’t perfect, but we weren’t dealing with an optimal scenario here.

  "At least," said Tiny. "We are inside."

  We looked at the cave. The ceiling here loomed overhead, roughly chunked out of solid stone. Condensation from melting snow dripped down on us. A series of torches spilled dancing light and shadows all over the walls.

  I looked at Wirek. "You know where to go from here?"

  "I’m thinking. Trying to remember is hard after a few hundred years."

  "Well, you’d better hurry, the chanting’s getting louder again." I looked at Tiny. "What time you got?"

  "Almost twenty-three hundred."

  Eleven o’clock. Damn, we’d wasted a couple of hours just getting here.

  By midnight I wanted Jack safe. And I wanted Arvella and Petrov out of commission. Dead if need be. At this point it didn’t much matter.

  If we didn’t get this done by midnight, before Arvella got a chance to make her dreams come true, we were screwed.

  The path ahead of us branched right and left. Wirek stood at the fork looking both ways. Smooth stone walls covered with old Taluk script beckoned in either direction.

  "You remember?" I asked him.

  "I remember walking in here and down one of these damned corridors." He looked at me. "Christ, Lawson, I’m sorry to be such a forgetful bastard here. I think this trip has made me really start realizing what a crusty old fool I’ve become."

  "Don’t get misty-eyed on me now, Wirek. You know where you’re going. Just trust yourself and I’m sure it’ll all come back."

  Tiny wiped his bloody kukri blade on his pants and nodded. "Please choose a direction. I’m having fun and wish to have some more."

  Wirek glanced at him. "Tiny, you’re a violent prick, you know that?"

  "Humph," said Tiny. "I’m an old bastard just like you, Wirek. But I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand here and moan about my age slowing me down. I haven’t had this much fun in years." He pointed at the fork. "Now, if you would, please choose a path for us and let’s get bloody well going."

  Wirek grinned and looked at me. "Trust me?"

  "You haven’t let me down yet, pal. Just keep your wits about you and lead on."

  Wirek nodded. "All right then. I’ll take that as a vote of confidence."

  He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again. "This way." He pointed left.

  "You sure?"

  He shrugged. "Makes sense that it would be. After all, the mountain itself gets larger in this direction. It tapers off to the right if I remember correctly how it looked from outside."

  "If that’s your best guess, then it’ll have to do."

  "We going here or what?" asked Tiny. "My kukri is hungry for more bodies and so am I."

  Wirek eyed me. "Real fun guy you found us there."

  "Hey, as I recall, you picked him up in Jomsom, not me."

  "Oh yeah, I forgot. You ready?"

  "Lead on MacDuff."

  Wirek nodded and started down the
left pathway.

  Tiny and I followed.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Dank.

  As we moved down the left corridor, that was the only word that crawled into my mind. More melting ice dripped from the stone ceilings and fell with boring predictability to the floor below creating grimy puddles that we avoided as much as possible.

  At varying intervals, torches crackled overhead illuminating another patch of the hallway. And despite the warmth emanating from somewhere ahead of us, the air remained raw. Chills worked their way up my spine as we walked on.

  The chanting had died down.

  It seemed to be intermixed with periods of silence. We had no idea what Arvella might be doing, but we all knew it wouldn’t be good. Whatever it was.

  Tiny chimed in with a time hack.

  Minutes dropped away from us with appalling rapidity. We had to find our way into the bowels of the old school and confront Arvella. Soon.

  Wirek paused by another fork. He closed his eyes again and then quickly chose another left turn.

  The air changed almost instantly.

  Waves of heat flooded the corridor. The hairs on my arms stood up. It felt like we were walking on some kind of static electricity generator.

  Wirek called a halt and motioned us together. "Feel it?"

  Tiny nodded. "Yeah, what’s the deal?"

  "Spirits," said Wirek. He looked at me. "She must be starting the ceremony already."

  "She wouldn’t use Jack yet, would she?"

  "I don’t know." Wirek checked his watch. "Probably not yet. But soon. Let’s hustle."

  "How much further?"

  "We should be close." He turned back and Tiny and I fell in behind him, although we stayed closer.

  Tiny had already drawn his kukri and I gripped the bokken a little tighter than I had been. I hoped we wouldn’t be facing spirits. Arvella, Petrov and their supporters would be difficult enough to handle.

  Wirek paused again and wiped his brow.

  His hand came away soaking wet with sweat.

  The heat grew overpowering.

  I had to keep reminding myself that Wirek probably couldn’t put up with as much as Tiny and I. But he pressed on, regardless of his discomfort. I admired that.

  The air suddenly exploded with chanting again.

  We were close.

  The hallway ended up ahead.

  Wirek huddled us up again.

  "Around this bend," he said wiping his face. "Damn, it’s hot."

  "She must have a fire blazing in there," said Tiny.

  "Something like that," said Wirek. He looked at me. "How do you want to hit them?"

  I looked at Tiny. "Got any ideas?"

  "You’re the leader."

  "Yeah, well, this is a meritocracy, so chime in all you want."

  Tiny nodded and looked at Wirek. "What’s the layout of the room?"

  Wirek wiped his forehead again. "Been a while since I was here last. But if I remember correctly, it’s big. Almost an auditorium. It’s got a stage at one end. The way we’re going in, it’ll be like walking into a concert hall I’d expect."

  "So we’ll be working to get to the stage," said Tiny. "Place’ll be thick with her followers."

  "Don’t forget the spirits she’ll have in there<" said Wirek. "We might have to deal with them, too."

  "And these will be the spirits of vampires?" asked Tiny.

  Wirek nodded. "Spirits of humans make the room feel cold."

  Tiny frowned and looked down at his kukri. He was probably wondering if his beloved knife would be much good against the spirit world. "How do we handle them?"

  "Hopefully, we won’t have to," I said. "The goal is to get to Arvella as fast as possible. She’ll be protected by another Fixer named Petrov and probably a few trusted supporters. We take them out, then take her out. That should do it."

  "You make it sound easy," said Tiny. "The last time something sounded that easy, half my old unit got killed."

  "We can’t spare half a unit," I said. "Just get in there. I’ll take the right side, you can go left. Wirek, you look for Jack."

  Wirek nodded. From out of nowhere, he suddenly produced a three-foot staff. "Got it."

  I blinked. "Where’d you get that?"

  He smiled. "Haven’t I shown this to you before?"

  "No."

  "Hmm, well, even us Elders have occasion to need to use force every now and again."

  "You’re good with that?" asked Tiny.

  Wirek smiled. "I’d offer a demonstration, but time is short."

  I patted him on the shoulder. "If things go the way we expect, you’ll be demoing your skills in no time, buddy." I eased up the corridor and peeked around the bend.

  Ahead, there was a single archway twelve feet high and bordered by more Taluk script. Beyond and into the room, I could make out perhaps a dozen block-robed figures with hoods. The chanting grew even louder.

  I ducked back and gave Wirek and Tiny the final game plan. Wirek might have had the toughest job what with having to find Jack and battle any of Arvella’s people who got in his way. But Tiny and I had just as much work ahead of us. Storming Arvella and dealing with Petrov would keep us deep in dead bodies, no doubt.

  Hopefully not our own.

  The adrenaline surged in my blood.

  We moved up to the archway.

  The heat became thick – the air stifling. Breathing took a lot of effort. Each step forward seemed like we were bathing in a skillet of fire.

  I looked at Tiny, wondering if he’d be all right. I’d known far too many supposed soldiers who said they were good at killing only to have them go yellow at the worst possible moment.

  Tiny’s expression, however, told me that he would be perfectly fine. His eyes had assumed the stone-like expression necessary for when you’re going into combat. He held himself low over his feet with the kukri ready in his right hand. I could see beads of sweat glistening on his forehead, running down the side of his swarthy face.

  I glanced at Wirek.

  He seemed okay. His breathing looked labored though. Between the heat and fatigue, he was suffering. Hell, we all were.

  Still, the staff he held didn’t waver.

  And the firm set to his jaw emanated reluctant confidence. He’d do well.

  And as for me, as many times as I’d been in the shit, my stomach still lurched like I’d eaten a bad burrito every time I got ready to go into action.

  But butterflies are normal.

  Seasoned combat vets will tell you they still get nervous.

  But they don’t freeze up.

  Time to go.

  We all knew what we had to do. Even if being as far away from this place was what we wanted most.

  Shadowy figures shifted in the room ahead of us. We hugged the walls and watched. They moved toward the stage. Away from us.

  We edged closer.

  Wirek pointed – I looked.

  Onstage stood Arvella.

  She was draped in deep purple cloaks with her arms out to the sides. Around her swirled pink energies that must have been spirits. She seemed to bend and fold them with just a flicker of her fingers. Her resonant voice filled the hallway, lifting the temperature even more.

  And now the cloaked figures of her cronies joined the chanting, lifting their arms and moving in time to her sways.

  Then the chanting abruptly stopped.

  And Arvella spoke.

  "The time, at last, is at hand," she said. "We have waited for so many years. For the point in our glorious history where our destiny is at last possible. Where others have failed before us, we will not. Where others have sought only the superficial, we will seek the powers beyond time and space. And where others have been ignorant of the true calling of our vampire kindred, we comprehend our divine role as saviors of the very cosmos itself."

  I glanced at Wirek. He was watching and listening closely.

  Arvella continued. "We have the opportunity tonight to open the very porta
l into the spirit world. Ordinarily this feat would be impossible due the powerful forces that must be controlled. But tonight we have the ability to unleash the minions of the dead and bend them to our will. They will bring us the power and conquest we desire. The power and treasures we deserve."

  She turned to an attendant flanking her on the right. "Bring him to me."

  Quicker than I would have expected, the attendant nudged a small boy forward.

  Jack.

  He looked scared.

  Cancel that, he looked absolutely terrified. And if I’d been scared about taking this place down a few seconds ago, that fear was immediately replaced with a burning rage and a need to get Jack the hell out of here.

  I might have killed his father by mistake, but I wasn’t about to let Arvella exploit this poor kid.

  I felt Wirek and Tiny looking at me.

  I nodded my head

  It was time to hit them with everything we had.

  I just prayed it would be enough.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The heat hit us like an eighteen-wheeler slamming into a mosquito.

  Waves of it washed over us as we literally melted through the archway and into the room itself. The elongated hall culminated in a stage at one end. Along the walls tapestries depicting ancient scenes of Invokers controlling spirits hung heavy but ruffling slightly in the spiritual wind. Light filled the room courtesy of wrought iron candelabras that twisted down on chains from the ceiling high overhead.

  I eased right, feeling the stone wall at my back.

  Tiny broke left.

  Wirek held back, searching the room and using one of the cloaked goons for cover as he did so.

  Surprise was the one thing we had going for us.

  But it didn’t look like it was going to do much.

  Especially when Arvella suddenly stopped chanting.

  "We have guests."

  Her voice floated out across the room causing the three of us to stop in midstride as her cloaked followers suddenly turned in one motion.

  And there were more than twelve of them.

  I heard Wirek say, "Shit."

  Arvella from her position on the platform smiled and opened her arms like some wacky hostess at a Tupperware party. "Come in, come in. You must be tired after your long journey."