by TJ Green
Avery was at the back, still on the steps, and light bloomed down below as Eve and Alex immediately threw more witch lights above them, throwing the room into stark relief. Avery stumbled down the last few steps, glad to be out of the narrow passage.
The room they were in was made of stone, plain and unadorned, and the floor was packed earth. On the far side were two heavy wooden doors, enormous bolts keeping them locked.
Caspian strode toward them, rattling the wood. “These are still solid.”
“Do you have to do that?” Ben asked, looking horrified. “You might wake what’s behind it!”
Cassie visibly shivered and gripped her stake hard. “Don’t say that. Do you really think the vampires are there?”
Genevieve stood next to Caspian, her pupils huge in the low light. “If we’re in luck, they will be. We can kill them and get this over with. Are we ready?”
“No,” Cassie answered.
“You can leave if you like,” Genevieve said. “I understand.”
Cassie shook her head. “I’m just nervous. I have a few spells in my pockets, as well as my stake. I’ll be fine.”
Eve patted her arm. “I am, too—you’re not alone.”
Everyone was nervous, it was obvious from the general air of tension in the room, and level of fidgetiness that everyone exhibited as they readied themselves, Avery included. She hadn’t forgotten how quick the vampires were when they’d encountered them before, and she took deep breaths to calm herself.
Genevieve looked them all in the eye. “Are we ready?”
Reuben pulled a torch from his backpack and lit his face up from under his chin, pulling a ghoulish expression and announcing in his best Vincent Price voice, “Time for the crypt! Ha ha ha!”
“You’re such a doofus,” El said affectionately.
“I’ll take that as yes,” Genevieve said dryly.
“Wait!” Jasper called. “What’s the time?”
Alex checked his watch. “Half past three, why?”
“Not long until sunset,” Jasper noted. “If they’re in there, they should be sleeping, but we’re cutting it close.”
“I’m not turning back now,” Genevieve said, and together she and Caspian released the bolts and pulled the doors open.
It was pitch black beyond them, and they launched a flurry of witch lights, illuminating another passageway, but this one was as wide as the double doors. At the far end was another set of doors.
“It seems Grigore was keen to keep the vampire from his own door,” Hunter said, wryly. He started to shed his clothes. “I’d rather proceed as a wolf from now on.”
Within seconds he changed into a larger than average wolf, and he loped to the passage entrance, Briar next to him, her hand buried in the fur of his neck. She’d slipped her shoes off, and she wriggled her toes in the dirt. “I can’t feel any magic ahead.”
“Me, neither,” Caspian agreed.
The passage was again lined with brick, and they progressed slowly, as if they were expecting booby traps. Avery felt like she was in an Indiana Jones film.
Alex nudged her. “You okay?”
She nodded. “I think so. You?”
He raised an eyebrow. “As I’ll ever be.”
The next set of doors was as solid as the first, but they were ornate, covered in sigils.
Genevieve ran her hand over them gently. “These had a spell on them once. There’s just a trace of it now, but the sigils warn against intrusion.”
Once again, everyone raised their weapons or their hands, magic summoned, as she and Caspian released the bolts and opened the doors, sending witch lights through at the same time.
They illuminated a bedroom. This time, the walls and floor were made of large stone blocks, and it was filled with wooden bedroom furniture—an ornate, four-poster bed, a chest of drawers, a mirrored dressing table, and a wardrobe. But it was an imitation only. The place was a wreck, the furniture broken, as if smashed in a rage, and the mirror shattered. The bed was the only intact item in there, but it was covered in rumpled and rotten linen that tumbled onto the ground, and it was soaked with stiffened, dark blood. But worse was the pile of bones that lay ankle deep in places, and the skulls lined up along the deep shelves cut into the wall; the stench was horrific. On the far side of the room was the entrance to another passage.
Avery heaved, and she heard a few others doing the same.
Briar’s hand flew to her mouth, and she said a quick spell; within seconds, the smell disappeared, replaced by the scent of roses and honeysuckle.
For a second there was silence as they all stared aghast at what lay before them, and then Hunter headed in, padding stealthily towards the bones, the rest of them fanning out as they explored.
“Over a century of death,” Jasper said solemnly as he looked at the devastation. He raised his hand, and immediately the candles placed around the room flared to life, and if anything, the warm light made the horror of it all so much worse.
Alex advanced slowly, the stake raised in his right hand, a ball of fire in his left. He kicked at the bones by his feet. “But nothing recent, by the look of it. These bones are old.”
“No wonder they never found bodies,” Dylan said as he swept his camera around the room. “He brought them all here. What an animal.”
The room fell silent as they advanced, and Avery shivered. Although Briar had disguised most of the stench, it was still there, faint and rancid, and Avery sent a gentle wind ahead of her, carrying it away. She reached out a hand to touch the broken mirror. “Grigore must have been trying to make his son more human.”
“Well, that was a big fat failure, wasn’t it?” Cassie said. “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.”
El extended her sword ahead of her as she looked around. “Well, it’s clear there’s nothing here. So where are they now?”
“The recent bodies, or the vampires?” Avery asked her.
“Both.”
Genevieve rubbed her face with her hands, her lips pinched tightly together. “I can’t believe we haven’t found them. Where the hell do we look now?”
Caspian pointed to the passageway ahead. “We keep going.”
Hunter was still sniffing around the room, and he jumped on the bed, his head lowered as he sniffed the sheets. A snarl rumbled in the back of his throat, and he snapped at the sheets, grabbing them between his strong teeth and pulling them back. Before he could do anything else, an arm emerged, knocking him off the bed and sending him crashing into the wall.
Everyone whirled around, as Reuben yelled, “Shit!” One of them’s here!”
Instantly everyone was ready, and Alex raced towards the bed, stake raised. Before he could get close, the vampire sprang up to the ceiling, its long, claw-like fingers grasping a wooden beam. It hung upside down, and still looked dazed, if that’s what you could call it, struggling to open its eyes against the daytime pull of sleep. The struggle didn’t stop its strength or viciousness, though. Its eyes were completely black, skin grey, and its teeth elongated and sharp, dried blood already crusted around its mouth.
For a second it seemed everyone was frozen in shock, and then Reuben and Ben raised their water guns and blasted the vampire. It screamed as its skin blistered, but it barely slowed it down. It dropped to the floor and charged Reuben.
Before he could take more than a few paces, Hunter leapt towards it, jaws wide. The vampire raised its arms, stopping Hunter from reaching its throat, and he bit hard on the vampire’s arm instead, his weight carrying them both to the floor.
With superhuman strength, the vampire tossed Hunter aside, though Hunter took a good chunk of its arm with him.
Once again the vampire sprang to its feet, but a powerful blast of magic swept it back against the wall and pinned it there.
Half a dozen stakes were raised, ready to attack, but Dylan was closest, and he charged, leaping over the piles of bones and driving the stake into its chest. The vampire roared, the noise terrifying. The stake was
only partway in.
Dylan looked around wildly, desperate for something to hammer the stake in with as the vampire struggled to break free, but instantly every single witch sent a wave of magic that pushed the stake home with such force it went straight through its chest and cracked the wall behind it.
The vampire went limp, but Alex took the sword from El’s hand and decapitated the body, as well. “Just making sure,” he said, grimacing.
The room fell silent, and then Reuben quipped, “Holy shit. Who would have thought this lurked beneath West Haven?”
“Is everyone all right?” Genevieve asked, arms still raised and magic dancing at the tips of her fingers.
She was answered by groans and nods, but Caspian and Alex were silent, both of them standing at the entrance to the passage on the other side of the room. Alex turned, his finger to his lips gesturing silence, and Caspian sent half a dozen witch lights ahead, illuminating another narrow passage.
They all listened, and Hunter padded forward, sniffing the air.
After a minute of absolute silence, Alex said, “I think we’re okay. The others aren’t here. Hunter?”
Hunter looked at them and gave what could only be interpreted as a nod, and then he padded forward again, ears pricked.
“I think we should get out of here,” Jasper said, looking worriedly at the others. “His death may have alerted the others, and they could be on the way right now.”
“But we may not have the opportunity to come down here again,” Caspian pointed out. “Let’s press on, at least see what’s down here. We have the chance to end this. Tonight.”
He was right, and everyone knew it, but nobody liked the idea.
He marched on regardless, Alex at his side, as Hunter led the way, and they hurried behind him, their footsteps echoing around them.
The passage was narrow, carved out of natural rock, the ground a mixture of earth and sharp stones. After a few minutes they came across a ladder leading up to a heavy metal door.
“Let me,” Reuben said. He clambered up and inched the hatch open, allowing a sliver of dim light to illuminate his features. “We’re in the wood behind the garden. I’m going out.”
Alex leapt onto the ladder. “I’m going, too.”
Avery followed, eager to see where it led, Genevieve right behind her. They emerged into undergrowth, trees growing closely around them, the ground speckled with snow and thick with leaves and rotting vegetation.
Reuben stood nearby, peering through the bare tangle of branches. “This is a natural dell,” he said. “Kids might use it for a camp, but probably not in years.”
Avery walked over to his side, and squinted through the trees, noting that there was nothing else in sight. “This was how he hunted then. No one would find him in here.”
Snow was still falling, and it was almost fully dark.
“Damn it,” Genevieve said, hands balled at her sides. “Let’s get back inside. There’s nothing else we can do here.”
The group was arguing when they joined them, Jasper annoyed. “It would be madness to continue. We have no idea how long this passage is, or how many vampires we may find at the end of it. There are definitely two, and one is older and much stronger than the other.”
“Agreed,” El said, raising her sword and watching the white flame flicker along its blade. “As much as I want to finish this, when we encountered them the other night at the docks, they were too strong for us. We got away only because Avery got the upper hand.”
Avery nodded. “El’s right—I was lucky.”
Caspian glared at her. “But there are more of us now! This is our chance.”
Genevieve intervened. “Not our only chance. The entrance above means we don’t need the house. We could come back tomorrow in the daylight.”
Caspian’s expression was bleak. “And what if there are more deaths tonight?”
She looked away, her expression conflicted, and Avery knew exactly what she was thinking. As much as none of them wanted to continue now that it was dark, Caspian had a point. She’d never forgive herself if someone else died, and from her quick glance at the others, despite their misgivings, she knew they thought the same.
But Genevieve was their coven lead, and she didn’t want to argue with her again.
Fortunately, Alex was prepared to. “I hate to agree with Caspian, but he’s right. We have the chance to end this. Now.”
Caspian glanced at him with the barest flicker of appreciation, and maybe annoyance.
Reuben added his support. “I agree. Those who don’t want to come should leave now. I won’t hold it against anyone. Especially you three,” he said, looking at Cassie, Ben, and Dylan.
“Not a chance,” Dylan said, squaring up to him. “I staked the last one, didn’t I?”
Reuben high-fived him. “Yes, you did!”
“I’m staying, too,” Cassie said, dropping her shoulders as if preparing for a fight. “Don’t you dare tell me to go!”
“Genevieve?” Caspian said softly. “I know you don’t want to lose anyone like Rasmus did last time, but we have to move, now!”
Hunter changed into human form, completely naked but seemingly impermeable to the biting cold around them. “I got a good scent of Lupescu. It was the strongest scent in there, which makes sense. I can smell him now—it’s faint, but there. I’ll lead you straight to him.”
Genevieve smacked her hand against the earth wall, a wave of magic punching a hole into it. “Damn it! When did you get to be so rational, Caspian?” She turned to the others. “All right. Let’s do this. Who wants to leave?”
Jasper sighed. “If you insist on this madness, of course I’m coming.”
Everyone nodded, resolute, and Genevieve sighed. “Let’s get on with this then, before we freeze to death down here.”
22
Hunter turned back into a wolf and led the way again.
El was just behind Avery. “I don’t like this. It’s too narrow. If anything happens, those at the front are on their own.”
“As are those at the back,” Avery said softly. She could see Ben ahead, but not the other paranormal investigators, and she looked back over her shoulder, hoping it wasn’t one of them, but she couldn’t quite see. She raised her voice. “Who’s at the end?”
“I am,” Jasper called back. “All good so far.”
“Thanks,” she shouted, relieved, and then fell silent, concentrating on the path ahead.
After endless minutes they reached an intersection with three passages running off in different directions, and they waited while Hunter sniffed the ground. Avery was now completely disorientated. She had no idea where they were, or what direction they were heading in. After a moment, Hunter headed down the right-hand passage, and Eve marked their path with a streak of white luminescence against the wall. “Just in case,” she said to no one in particular.
Several more times they encountered other passages, some wider than others, some with the distinct stench of sewage emanating from them. They would never have done this without Hunter, Avery reflected. His nose was saving them hours.
As they hesitated for a moment at another crossroads while Hunter sniffed the ground, they heard a skitter of footsteps behind them that immediately stopped when they fell silent. They turned as one.
We’re going to die down here.
A blast of fire hurtled down the passage from the direction they had come from, briefly illuminating the people behind her, and Jasper yelled. “Get a bloody move on!”
Hunter howled and raced ahead, and they ran, too. A scream echoed around them, and Avery stopped to look behind her. El was sprinting away. Shit. Avery followed, and almost stumbled over figures wrestling on the ground.
Jasper was pinned down by Bethany, her teeth inches from Jasper’s throat. Cassie clung onto her back, desperately trying to pull Bethany’s head away. Eve was lying dazed on the floor, a cut on her head, and Dylan was nowhere in sight.
“Move!” El yelled at Cassie, an
d with a well-timed blast of magic, propelled her away from the vampire. Bethany’s head lifted, her lips peeling back as she snarled at El, fire blazing behind black eyes. El bounded forward, sword ready, and sliced with clinical precision, beheading Bethany in an instant.
The body slumped on Jasper, and thick, viscous blood pumped over him, and spattered across the wall as Bethany’s head rolled away into darkness.
“Where’s Dylan?” Avery yelled. She threw up another witch light, showing Cassie, insensible against the wall, and Dylan another few feet beyond.
Leaving El to help Jasper to his feet, she raced to Dylan’s side, her heart pounding in her chest. Please be alive.
His left arm was lying at an odd angle, but his neck was unmarked, and he was still breathing. She heard running from the other direction, and saw Alex and Reuben in the dim light.
“Avery!” Alex shouted.
“I’m okay,” she called back. “Dylan’s unconscious and I think his arm’s broken, but he’s alive.”
Avery held her hand against his head, feeling for bumps or cuts. She whispered a healing spell that Briar had taught her, and Dylan’s eyes flickered open.
He groaned. “What the hell…”
“Careful,” she warned him as he sat up.
“Bollocks, my arm.” He cradled it, stiffly.
“You need to leave.”
She turned and saw El helping Cassie to her feet, Eve and Jasper already standing.
“What the fuck happened?” Reuben asked, walking over to examine Bethany’s head.
“She snuck up on us, even through the fire ball,” Jasper explained. “She moved too quickly, and took me down first, but Dylan jumped on her, and she threw him like he was nothing. She leapt around the walls like a damn spider.”
“Where are the others?” Avery asked, looking behind Alex and Reuben.
“We told them to go on. We’ll catch up.”
“They won’t,” Avery said. “Everyone’s injured, especially Dylan.”
“I’ll be fine,” Eve reassured them. She brought her hand to her cheek and wiped away the blood, healing the cut as she did so.
