by Deanna Chase
“Stop moving.”
“Your arm is making my thong slide up,” I hissed.
His nose curled and I had to swallow my giggle. His look had been priceless, as if seeing a five-year-old face admit to wearing a thong was creepy.
“What’s wrong, baby,” I nibbled on his ear, “don’t you find me sexy?” Oh man, that was about as inappropriate as it came, but honestly sometimes I couldn’t help myself.
He growled and swung at my head with his free hand. I dipped, missing the blow by inches. I grabbed his hand, brought it to my mouth and bit down.
If looks could kill, I’d be six feet under.
I shrugged and fluffed out my hair. “Don’t swing at me again.”
Finally the stairs ended and we entered an even darker room. I could see fine, but most of the others were glancing around in wide-eyed dread.
I looked around too, studying the layout, committing it to memory. Now that I knew my way inside, I’d be back.
The vamp swung open another steel door and this time when he did the silence was shattered. The screams of children echoed like thunder down the hall.
And one other thing snared my attention, making my pulse hammer and my knees weak, the unmistakable odor of sulfur. A neph was here. I closed my eyes, hugging Billy’s neck.
I’d hoped Grace was wrong, but I could no longer deny the truth.
Chapter 21
Some of the kids around me started crying, others screamed and some simply stood in numb terror.
The handlers dragged some, picked others up and any pretense of nicety was suddenly stripped away. The humans slapped, kicked, and boxed the ears of the kids unwilling to move forward.
I trembled with rage and dug my claws into Billy’s shoulders, this close to losing my composure. He rubbed my back in a soothing gesture. I took a deep breath and clipped a hard nod, I was okay.
We all walked inside. The vamp closed the door behind us, locking us inside with the screams.
Blue fog rolled around the dank, earthen floor and the room stretched for what seemed like miles on either side. Spaced, side by side, were large iron cages with beds of straw and one tiny body apiece inside.
Some of the kids were screaming, several different dialects warring against each other, rattling the metal bars, voices grown hoarse from hours of abuse. Others stared with the blank look of utter hopelessness and some were curled on their sides, sucking their thumbs, mud streaked faces gazing out at nothing.
One thing disturbed me about the children—their ethnicity. Asian, African, Hispanic, European, and many if not most, looked native to their homeland. And if that was the case, then these kids came from all parts of the globe. The likelihood of the parents ever finding their kids again was slim to none.
I choked on my fury and looked away before I did something I’d regret.
The vamp shoved his glamour at us. The weak pulse of it slapped my face, I swatted it away. He was attempting to thrall the kids into quieting down. My lip curled exposing my fangs.
Billy’s arms tightened. “Look above us. Do you see the beams?”
I looked. “Yes.”
“When I say go,” he patted my hair as if he were trying to soothe me, “you go. Got it?”
I nodded. He set me down.
The group started walking again and aside from the lone vamp guiding us, I didn’t see any others. This wasn’t it. Couldn’t be. This had to be a holding cell of some sort; the real action was still someplace else.
Little by little, Billy separated away from the pack. Walking slower and slower until we were several paces behind the rest of the group.
“Do you see anyone behind us?” he whispered.
I scanned the darkness for any moving shapes, but I really didn’t need to, there was nothing there aside from the children.
“No.”
“Then go.”
I ported. The moment my feet touched the beams I heaved a heavy sigh of relief and turned to find Billy gazing out at the sea of cages.
“We need to follow them,” he said, the second he looked at me I shifted back to normal and shuddered. I wanted to wipe the memory of being a little girl from my mind.
Teasing Billy had been fun, but not enough to tempt me to ever do that again.
He started running and I followed, jumping from beam to beam with balanced ease. Just as I caught sight of the group I was overcome by a powerful shiver of paras. The second I turned the corner there were several more vamps. They were grabbing the screaming children from out of the adult’s arms and dragging them away down separate paths. In all the confusion no one seemed to notice we’d gone missing.
I bit the inside of my cheek and crouched low.
“Look,” Billy pointed straight ahead, “do you see that yellow light?”
The vamp we’d been following turned and headed in the direction he’d pointed and I could make out the barest flicker of golden yellow.
“Looks like flame,” I said.
“I think so, that’s where we need to go.”
We waited until the space cleared, then Billy hopped and I ported down. The heavy stench of sulfur clung to my clothes and hair. The further down the cave, the stronger the smell and my certainty grew that I was indeed tracking a rogue neph. Only a demon smelled of hell.
I hugged the damp stone. Billy peeked down the hall, then motioned for me to follow. Even here, walking inside the narrow confines of the hall, there were children.
The cages hung from the ceiling by metal hooks. They stared at us, eyes forlorn, hopeless. I tamped down my anger. It was one thing to have lab rats, but kids. Little beings who’d never had a chance to live.
I couldn’t take it. I turned my eyes, didn’t look. Tried not to hear the whimpered pleas or see the outstretched hands. If I looked at one more bruised face, saw one more bloody lip I’d never be able to press on, I’d have to turn back and free them all now and I couldn’t do it. I ran the risk of not only exposing myself, but making it impossible to eventually free them. I didn’t know how many vamps I was dealing with, I would come back for them. But only when I knew the odds and was better prepared.
I jogged, keeping well within the safety of shadow. Finally the hall opened up into another large labyrinth of tunnels and forked roads.
Had we stumbled on a lair?
This place couldn’t have cropped up overnight. It was large, the tunnels smooth from years of being brushed up against.
The light grew brighter toward our left. We followed and soon heard the scuffle of booted feet. I crouched, out in the open like this there was little chance of us going unnoticed.
Three hooded figures headed toward a row of cages in our direction. I shot Billy a glance and he nodded, held up his hand and three fingers and then ticked them down one by one. When he reached zero we both jumped to our feet.
I kicked one of the figures and slammed my fist into the face of another. The one I punched growled and ran at me with his arms extended. I rolled out of his grasp and around his back. Then I grabbed his jaw and yanked his head forcefully to the side. His neck snapped instantly.
He fell to the ground with a muffled thud. I turned. The last two lay at Billy’s feet, bodies unmoving.
“Oh my, two in the time it took me to do one. Be still my beating heart. Should I be scared or impressed?”
He smirked. “Both.” He then started to pull the robe off one of the vamps. “Put on a robe,” he commanded.
I did and then dragged the body of the nude vamp behind an empty cage; thankfully there weren’t many kids in this part of the cave.
Billy walked toward me, the bodies of the last two vamps draped on either shoulder. He dumped them off. “Let’s go.”
We continued walking through the labyrinth that was beginning to grow thick with bodies and the rising chant of master, master resonating off the walls.
It gave me chills to hear it. I curled in on myself the best I could, keeping my head low so no one could see me inside the robe and
followed the noise.
The hall opened up into a massive, domed chamber. Hundreds of torches, both in the rock face and wedged in the dirt, lit the room in a glow so bright it almost felt like you were stepping inside the fire.
Against the far wall stood a statue of Molech—ancient god of human sacrifice. Above his head and carved deep into the rock was an inverted star with a goats head and demon’s horns set inside. A very well known symbol of demonology and occultism.
I didn’t like this. This was worse than bad and the last thing I’d wanted to find.
The arms of the statue were carved of beaten metal and it glowed a deep orange. I swallowed the bile working its way up my throat. Placing a child on that amount of heat was tantamount to throwing someone in molten lava.
The ground below was stained a dirty brown and I knew they’d already sacrificed many. I clenched my fists. How in the name of all that was holy had this been happening right under my nose? How could I have been so blind?
Vamps and humans, all dressed in robes, spilled into the room, circling the massive golden throne at its center and joined an already large mass of genuflected worshippers. The room trembled with the heartfelt cries of master. Growing louder each time they said it.
Something didn’t make sense to me though. Everything I remembered about the worship of Molech said sacrifices only happened on the night of a full moon. Tomorrow. Yet, it looked like something would happen tonight.
I jerked when a hand grabbed my arm.
“It’s me.” Billy spoke into my ear.
From somewhere behind me I heard the bleat of sheep.
“We need to move back, away from this crowd, we can’t be caught up in this.”
I nodded and back peddled slowly so as not to draw attention to myself. I pushed a little glamour into my body, not enough to alert any of the vamps to me, but enough to go unnoticed. The worshippers hardly spared me a passing glance in their haste to get to their idol.
“Oh great god, Molech,” a deep voice rose above the noise of the chanting, “honor us with your presence. We bring you sacrifice...”
“Yes,” the chanters said in unison.
My skin prickled. Did these people have any clue who they were calling? Molech had been one of many names for Wrath. AKA Seven Deadly Sins. One of the seven high caste demon lords chained in hell.
I continued to back up, moving deeper into shadow and far enough away from the group that they couldn’t see me, but I could still see them.
“...in exchange for power and honor,” said that same deep voice.
“Yes.” The hundreds of voices reverberated through the room and a cold chill swept down my spine.
A robed figure walk toward the front of the group lifted up his hands to the statue and bowed many times.
The ensuing silence was deafening, as if someone had stolen the life from the room. Then a deep, freezing cold swept through the place, causing the torches to flicker out, plunging everything into darkness.
I shoved my robe up, I needed to tell Luc. He needed to call Grace. We needed back up and we needed it now. I flicked on the box.
“Pandora! Pandora!” he screamed into my ear and I winced. “Are you okay? Where were you? Are you okay?” he asked again.
I couldn’t answer him for fear of exposing myself.
“Come to us, Molech. Hear the cries of your faithful.” And with those words the torches flared back to life, revealing a black robed figure sitting upon the throne.
Muted cries of ooh’s and ahh echoed throughout the chamber.
“Molech?” Luc’s tone had gone from desperate anger to laced with something akin to worry.
I couldn’t get a fix on the sitting stranger, which meant it was either human—I doubted it—or something bigger and badder than me.
The worshippers jumped to their feet, started throwing their robes off and began clapping and singing loudly at the tops of their lungs. They danced nude. Holding hands and circling the statue of the ancient god.
The cries of the sheep grew louder. I glanced to my right and saw a group of ten each carrying a bound lamb. I licked my lips.
“Billy,” I said, turning to him, but he was gone. Where was he?
“Pandora, answer me now. What's going on? My monitor is a nightmare of blue’s and red. Where are you?”
“Luc, oh my God, I’m in over my head.”
“Where are you?”
I scooted out from my position behind the wall. “I’m in some underground cave behind the club. Listen, Luc, I think I’ve stumbled on a lair.”
A cry, the likes of which I hadn’t heard in centuries, seared my skull. One of the lambs had been placed on the glowing arms. The room filled with the sick odor of burnt wool and sizzling skin.
“What was that?”
Blood started seeping between the metal hands, humans and vamp alike ran toward the alter, throwing up their hands as they bathed in it. Pure, unmasked erotic pleasure scrawled on their faces. Then the vampires started grabbing the humans. They began slicing deep groves in their flesh, sucking on the blood like leeches.
“I don’t give a crap what Grace said, this is bigger than me, Luc. I can’t handle this on my own. We need backup.”
I didn’t know where Billy had run off to and frankly I no longer cared. I had to leave. I had to grab more weapons, more muscle.
“Pandora, I see a band of blue laced with purple.”
I snarled, as more bodies began pouring into the room from the hall behind me. “Where?” And that was the final confirmation. We were dealing with a rogue. Very likely the figure on the throne.
“Somewhere ahead of you.”
I looked but couldn’t see anything that stood out in the thick crush of the crowd. The black robed figure was obscured from my line of vision.
Couples started pairing off, orgies were happening all around me. Some of the men and women screamed and I knew they weren’t willing partners.
I started backtracking, increasing my glamour, knowing I took a risk of exposing myself by doing it.
“The children, Luc, the children. I have to get them out.”
“Children? What children? Pandora, come back. We’ll sort this out, but you need to leave now.”
“I know,” I said between clenched teeth, shoving bodies out of my way, trying in vain to ignore the terrified pleas of the children. Then I stopped and my blood ran cold.
There she was. The little girl from last night. Her beautiful pink dress caked in blood and dirt, her chubby cheeks streaked with lines of dried tears. She stared at me, saying nothing, but her beautiful brown eyes glittered with hope that her hero might still save her.
My breath trembled.
“Pandora, get out,” Luc warned, “I see heat signals everywhere. It’s like a bloody hive down there. Get out!”
I didn’t stop to think, I could no longer ignore this. I ran up to the cage, grabbed the door and pulled. I warped the metal in my haste to get her out of there.
She jumped back. Ducked her head and started to cry.
“Ssh, baby,” I cooed, “come to me. Come on, sweet girl.”
She sniffled and wiped her nose off with her fist. I looked over my shoulder and saw no one.
“Pandora, please, you’re giving me a heart attack,” Luc pleaded.
I ignored him. I wouldn’t leave her.
“What’s your name, honey?”
“Brianna,” she said around a hiccup, her teeny voice girlish soft.
“Brianna, I’m gonna take you back to your mommy, but I need you to come with me now.”
My heart clenched when she put on a brave face and stepped into my arms. I hugged her tight, trying to ease the spasming muscles in her body. “Just relax, little one. I’m gonna take you home. Ssh.”
I was so focused on her; I never saw the blade that tore through my midsection. Disemboweling me.
Brianna screamed and I cried out, nearly dropping her as the pain exploded through my brain.
“Pan
dora!” Luc yelled.
I blocked everything out but my desperate desire to leave and save her.
Quickly I set her down. Adrenaline began to burn through me. I turned and came face to face with the black robed figure. I grabbed the cloak’s arm and torqued it, snapping the bone at the elbow and shoulder.
It roared. Then it punched me in the gut and I gagged. Black spots swam in my vision.
“Don’t hurt her,” Brianna cried.
Every breath hurt. But I couldn’t let it touch her. I swept its legs out from under it. Knocking it to the ground. Then I kicked it in the thigh hard enough to feel the bone give way. It doubled over, howling.
I ignored Luc. I ignored my pain. With one hand I grabbed the little girl. She hugged me around the neck. So tight it almost cut off my airway.
I ran on unsteady legs, holding my organs inside the best I could. The cloak started after me. I was never gonna make it out.
Brianna cried, burying her face in my neck.
“Ssh, baby. Ssh, I’m gonna get you home.”
I stumbled. Each step I took, each little movement jostled my insides. I had to bite down on my tongue to keep from screaming. I tasted blood and knew I’d bit through.
I ran through the empty halls. I got lost and disoriented. The footsteps were gaining on me.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Sweat trickled down my back. I was gonna have to port. It was dangerous with me so injured. But if I didn’t, we’d both die.
I ported and it was like every cell in my body had been bathed in acid. I traveled the breeze, held onto Brianna with the last of my flagging strength and fought unconsciousness. I’d never be able to find her home. I wouldn’t make it.
Consciousness grew fuzzy.
There was a police station downtown. I headed in that direction, slipping in and out. I made it. But barely. I fell on the blacktop and had to roll to prevent myself from crushing Brianna’s tiny body.
She screamed, her tiny hands scrabbling over my face in her panic. Porting was terrifying. Especially if you didn’t know it was coming.
I heaved, the air felt thick. I couldn’t take a good breath. I looked at her. “You’re safe. You’re safe.” It was like I’d run a fifty-mile marathon. Every muscle ached. Screamed at me.
