In The Depths: A Novel (DeSai Trilogy) Vampire legends

by RWK Clark

  Pat threw his head back and laughed pretty loudly for an airplane passenger; a couple of heads from the seats in front of them turned, rising a bit above their headrests to make a point about the noise. “Sorry,” said Pat, just as loudly. Shushing sounds began to accompany the glares. He looked over at Tim. “Nobody has a sense of humor anymore, man. Nobody.” The two grinned at each other, and Pat settled back in. “So what do you know about the diving at La Ceiba? Has Candy given you any good info?”

  Tim shook his head. “I don’t think she really knows. Some girlfriend of hers from the gym recommended it, and she did a bunch of research on the area and the diving there. All she told me was that it was going to be great, but isn’t it great every time?”

  Pat nodded. “I think so, but at least we’ll get to see some knew stuff down there. I was getting a bit sick of Hawaii and Mexico. Hope they party hard in Honduras.”

  They went into silence then. The attendant was only a couple of rows away, and the three who were awake had begun to straighten out exactly what they wanted from her in their minds: three cold beers, and as many bags of peanuts as she would ‘shell’ out.

  In ten minutes they had their provisions in their possession and their tray tables down, with the exception of a lightly snoring Abby. Tim turned to Pat. “One of these times you are going to have to let that chick try to enjoy her flight, dude.” They both broke into laughter, which caused a burst of hushes from the front of the cabin. Every time they flew Pat managed to rile his girl up to the point of physical sickness; thus far she had not made her infamous run to the facilities. Tim was glad he had lured his friend over to sit with him. It wasn’t that long of a flight; he should let her sleep if she was able.

  He looked over at Candy; she was preoccupied with her tablet. Pat was all but stuck to the window. He sighed and stood to get the latest copy of ‘Scuba Diver’ out of his carry-on bag over his head. If you can’t beat them, join them.

  The rest of their flight was uneventful, even peaceful, and before they knew it, it was time to wake Abby and begin getting their things together for landing and disembarking. The pilot came over the intercom and gave the obligatory speech about how grateful the airline was that they were chosen for this flight, and how they all hope to be chosen again, yada, yada, yada. Before any of the four Scuba enthusiasts knew what was going on they were walking toward the baggage carousel inside of the airport.

  “That was a lot faster than some of our flights, it seemed,” said Abby, as they stood watching for their bags. “Why is that, do you think?” Pat spoke up like lightning. “Because you weren’t barfing every five minutes.” He and Tim broke into obnoxious laughter, inciting the two thoroughly disgusted young ladies to shake their heads. Candy responded with a simple, “You’re a couple of idiots.”

  Bags in hand, the troop headed to the front of the airport and stepped out into the hot, bright sunlight. Taxis were lined up at the entrance, with a few of them already loaded with passengers. Candy, always the one to take control, headed to an empty cab, leaving it to the others to follow at will. She leaned in the window and spoke to the driver. “Estrellas Cinco?” She spoke the name of the hotel fluently, and the driver responded with, “Sure. How many?”

  Candy smiled. “Four of us, plus our bags. Is that cool?”

  “Of course,” he replied. “One can take the front, no problem.” He got out of the cab and walked to the rear to store their luggage in the trunk for the drive. The four climbed into the cab and got situated.

  Pat was already glued to the window, but he spoke first. “How far is the hotel from here, Candy?”

  She grabbed a small spiral notebook from her purse and flipped through the pages. “Supposedly about twenty miles; of course, we have to consider traffic, and we don’t know this area, so I would guess it will take us about an hour. If we over-estimate we won’t be disappointed, right?”

  Tim groaned from the front seat; his girlfriend was forever the optimist. Sometimes he wished she would just lay it on the line and say she didn’t know, but he had adjusted well to the fact that this would likely never happen, so he simply shook his head and smiled.

  They wound up stuck in traffic twice, and on two different thoroughfares. The heat was nearly unbearable, and there was no air-conditioning in their cab. The only music on the radio was in Spanish, and Candy was the only one who understood it, and even the ever-cheerful Pat was ready to burst with frustration from the full bladder he had neglected to empty before leaving the airport. Their hotel was a much welcome site.

  ∞

  Estrellas Cinco, which meant ‘five stars’, was anything but. It wasn’t that bad, but when they entered the tiny lobby they were quickly disappointed. Dusty plastic plants adorned each corner, and wicker furniture with dirty pads sat unused. There was a small desk which was something a school principal might use, and there was no air-conditioning. A box fan, aimed only at the clerk’s desk, circulated the stifling air. Abby, Tim, and Pat fixed their eyes on Candy, who looked at them innocently and asked, “What?”

  She reached out and tapped the bell on the desk, and within seconds a small mustachioed man appeared from a door situated in a small hallway. “Buenos Dias! Americanos?”

  Abby spoke up. “Si.”

  “Good, good! I speak English. You have reservation?” His smile was plastered to his face, and his eyes were lit up with eagerness.

  Candy began to dig in her bag for her notebook with their confirmation numbers in it. “Yes, we do, let me just get the numbers out for you.”

  “That is fine, Senorita, but your name will be enough, if you please.”

  She sighed with relief. “We have two rooms, two adults in each, and they are under the name Candace Fredericks. You will need my identification, I assume?”

  “Your passport will be all I need to see.” He began going through a hard-cover notebook, running his finger down the lines on the page. “Ah, Fredericks, four adults. Yes. I found it.” He looked up and reached for Candy’s passport, which she was already holding out for him to take. He opened it, looked it over, looked at her, and then smiled and returned the booklet. “Gracias, Senorita.” With that he began to enter information into the ancient desktop computer before him, and after a few moments he looked back at Candy. “That will be a five-day, five-night stay at forty American dollars per room per night. The total will be four-hundred, seventy-five American dollars, which we do not take. Do you have ‘lempira’?”

  Candy had taken the time to conduct a currency exchange at the airport. She nodded and smiled at him while her friends looked at each other with grateful eyes; there was a reason they let her take charge.

  “Then that will be ten-thousand, four-hundred forty-two lempira, please.” The man’s plastic smile remained on his face as Candy fetched the funds from her purse and paid for the rooms. Soon they were following the man, whose name tag identified him as Javier, down a hall as he pushed a rickety cart with their bags and led them to their rooms.

  ∞

  The rooms were much better than the lobby had led them to believe. Air-conditioning pumped in to them freely. They were spacious and attractively furnished, even offering a small refrigerator and wet bar in each one, though neither was abundantly stocked. The four divers began to unpack their gear and clothing and get themselves settled in.

  Once finished, Abby walked out onto a small terrace which overlooked a small portion of the beach. Candy had done well once again. The beach was clean and beautiful; the water was a dazzling shade of blue, and it captured the rays of the sun like a blanket would catch strewn diamonds. It was intensely inviting. Tomorrow they would venture into the waters and see sites they had not viewed before. But until then, it was time to eat and party a bit; she turned and went back into the room she would share with Pat. “Are you done yet? I’m starved! Let’s find the other two and eat.”

  Chapter 3

  The crew walked up the hall in the direction of the stagnant little lobby. “I’m not exa
ctly sure, but I think this place has a small café in it, though I don’t know where it would be. It didn’t look like it could, but that was one of the reasons I chose it.” Candy held Tim’s hand as she spoke, and squeezed it gently at the end of her sentence. The looked at each other, and she blushed slightly and smiled. They had pulled off a ‘quickie’ when they were supposed to be unpacking, but it was all she had thought about during the flight; their clothes could wait.

  When they got to the lobby Abby rang the desk bell, and Javier flew from the same door as before. “I can help you?”

  “Yes, we thought there might be a café here where we can eat and have a drink, maybe even a bar with a grill?” Abby looked at the man hopefully, her stomach almost audible with its growling.

  Javier’s smile grew even broader, if that was possible. “Ah, yes, yes, Si! Follow me please!” He turned on his heel and headed back for the door which he had emerged from. They looked at each other skeptically and followed him.

  They no sooner crossed the threshold of the door than they saw what had been occupying Javier. The door led to no more than a tiny room with a soda machine. Next to that was a large metal and glass swinging door, which he pushed and then held so they could enter. Spanish music could suddenly be heard, and bar signs adorned the walls of the room inside. A long bar with a haggard looking woman tending it was on the left, and a number of tables and chairs were situated on the floor of the room, each with napkin dispensers, salt and pepper, and bottles of hot sauce.

  Candy smiled at Javier. “They serve food?”

  “Si, Senorita! The very best in La Ceiba!” Candy doubted this, but was willing to give it a go. They chose a table and sat down, getting as comfortable as possible in the hard, wooden chairs. The barmaid walked up to them and passed out laminated placards measuring about eight by fourteen inches: menus.

  In broken English she spoke to them, “I will take drinks, then come back for food.”

  Each of them proceeded to order cold beer, and as she turned away they placed their focus on their menus. “I don’t read Spanish or whatever it is. Candy, I need your help.” Pat seemed to be a bit edgy; he needed to eat.

  “Fine. Let me choose, and then I will help whoever needs me, okay?” She took a long drink from her bottled beer and went back to her menu.

  Within ten minutes she had chosen her fare, and she had helped the others to do the same. They would keep it simple: baleada (balley-AH-da) similar to a Burrito, steak, rice, beans and fried plantains all around. Just the thing they expected. Abby motioned for the barmaid and they put their orders in. Finally, they could settle back and relax. They chatted comfortably about the initial dive they would make the next day, all of them excited about the new underwater frontier they would experience. When their food came they ate mostly in silence, with just a few scattered words and sentences spoken between bites, and when they were finished they retired to their rooms and each fell into an exhausted sleep.

  ∞

  Patrick Gilliam slept hard if not soundly. His sleep was filled with disturbing, unexplainable dreams…

  He was camping in a clearing in the middle of the forest with strangers. He sat on his bedding and looked around at all of the men sleeping around him. Why was he camping with a bunch of Honduran-looking dudes? Where was Tim?

  He then noticed a man standing by a pole with a torch attached. He was staring around in the darkness, smoking what appeared to be a joint. Maybe he would share. Patrick spoke to the man, “Hey, you feel like passing that?”

  The man’s head jerked around and he made eye contact with Pat. He drew deeply on the ‘joint’, then dropped it to the ground and stepped on it. Pat watched in disbelief; how rude!

  The man spoke to him in Spanish; Pat understood him, though he was clearly aware that he could not speak much Spanish at all. “When he comes, he can have you first. You are the beginning of the end.”

  “What the heck are you talking about man? Who, the cops? All I wanted was a hit, jeez, I’m sorry I asked.”

  The man smiled a grim, pained smile and shook his head. “He will have you first. You are powerless… we are all powerless.”

  Pat noticed a bruise along the side of the man’s face in the firelight. Just as he opened his mouth to ask the man what happened to him, another man approached from the shadows and stepped into the light, standing next to the one with the bruise. His face was purple and bloated, and even in the dim light Pat could see a deep black bruise around his throat.

  He turned to the first and said, “Yes, DeSai will take him. He is good enough.” He then turned to Pat and walked up to him. Looking him in the eye he spoke directly to him, “This visit is not your own. You were all chosen for the beginning. Go home. Now… while you still have time…”

  Patrick sat up straight in the bed, the sheets, which were twisted around his legs and torso, soaked with his sweat. He breathed heavily, gulping in the fresh air, along with the reality which now encompassed him. Honduras. He was in Honduras.

  He turned to his right to confirm, and upon seeing Abby sleeping soundly next to him he breathed a great sigh of relief. What the heck kind of dream was that? He had never really dreamed such a clear dream which involved characters he had never encountered before in his life.

  He swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked into the bathroom to relieve himself and get a drink of water. When he was finished he returned to the bed and settled in next to Abby, wrapping his arms around her and snuggling her. She moaned and snuggled him back in her sleep. The dream had all but faded now, and he closed his eyes. In minutes he was sleeping soundly once again.

  Chapter 4

  The new day brought the sun, and with it, the suffocating heat. Candace rose before the others and, leaving a note for Tim, went down to the bar and grille. It was open, but the bar was unattended. Instead, there was a single waitress, and a man working in the kitchen behind the bar. She sat at the same table they had used the evening before and placed an order for pastelitos (fried Honduran meet empanadas), and coffee, which she sipped while her food cooked.

  They were to be at the Scuba company by eleven; it was only eight now. She had plenty of time to sit and enjoy the peace and quiet of the morning. Adventure and excitement would come soon enough. She watched a man and woman talk outside through a window near her table. They gazed romantically into each other’s eyes, and it made her smile.

  As she watched them their expressions changed. Suddenly the man looked up and appeared to look her directly in the eyes; the woman turned and did the same. They held the stares, as did Candy. Their eyes held no malice, but they did hold fear, and it was enough to send a jolt up her spine.

  Right then the waitress brought her plate; Candace turned and looked at the steaming food. “Bueno,” she nodded to the woman, who curtly nodded back before filling her coffee and walking curtly away. Candy turned back to the window, but the couple was gone.

  She found she was no longer very hungry, but she picked at her food as best she could. She had one more coffee when she was finished, and as she sat and obsessed on the couple outside her friends came into the café to join her.

  “Always the early riser, our Candy,” began Abby, who took a chair next to her. The men sat across from their girls respectively, and Candace breathed a sigh of relief that she was no longer alone with her thoughts in this creepy place.

  She smiled broadly, offering her grin to each one of them individually. “Good morning! Are we all ready to get wet today?”

  They nodded enthusiastically, almost in unison. Tim stood slightly and leaned over the table, planting a kiss in the middle of her forehead. “How did you sleep, love?”

  “Deeply. How about you two?” Abby nodded, but Patrick just gave a lame sort of smile.

  “I tossed a bit, but I think it was just the new place. You know, we’ve never been here before. Tonight will be better after I’m worn out from the day.” Patrick put his focus on twisting his napkin between his fingers and mana
ged to change the subject by waving at the waitress, who made her way over with three cups and the coffee pot.

  The three joiners ordered their food off the cuff, and began to enjoy their coffee, getting woke up for the day’s adventures. In no time their food was ready, and they ate in silence, knowing that they needed to get their gear gathered and find a cab to take them to the Scuba guide who would accompany them on their dive. Being late simply was not an option. Between suiting up, safety checks, and getting to know their guide, it was best to be early.

  ∞

  At ten forty-five the four of them arrived at ‘Scuba Adventura’, a guide company which came highly recommended by Candy’s boss, Mark Abrams. He said some of the best diving he had ever experienced was in Honduras, and led by the people there, so they had been the go-to when it came time to plan this trip.

  Their guide was named Rodrigo, and he had fifteen solid years-experience with this company. While they geared up they chatted and got to know each other better, and this continued even into their equipment checks and safety reviews. By the time they got on the boat and headed out, the team was more than ready to get the diving underway.

  After about thirty minutes of boating Rodrigo slowed the boat near the foot of a massive cliff. “Here looks like good spot. New area for me, but look very nice for good dive.” All four nodded in reply, and prepared to go in as he stopped and secured their vessel.

  The dive itself went smoothly, and they began their underwater exploration with great avidity. They had paired off, each couple together, but they stayed in close proximity to each other so they were able to share their discoveries. Candy always had her camera, and she loved to get as many good shots of the beauty of the ocean as she could.

  The sea life was outstanding, as were the plants and variety of shells they saw. Brilliant colors filled their vision, and they eagerly shared all they saw with each other. Time passed quickly though, and Tim, who usually watched their air gauges obsessively, finally nudged Candy to signal that they had about twenty minutes left. She nodded, and the two proceeded to swim over to Pat and Abby to let them know.