Ashley and Helen walked hand in hand in pleasant silence. They both enjoyed the presentence of the other one. It wasn't easy for Helen to raise her daughter while running her Sanctuary back in Old Town and being the Head of all the Sanctuaries. But she tried her best to be the best mom of the world. She always kept Ashley aside from her trips in which she was looking for new Abnormals, kept her safe form everything dangerous. She took her from time to time with her in different Sanctuaries all over the world, but she always left her in a safe place.

Now, when she looked at her daughter, carrying bravely her big bag, she realized how happy she was to have her here. On the other hand she felt more responsibility than when she was alone. She didn't care if she suffered from pain after some of her trips but now she had to make sure Ashley will come from this adventure unharmed.

Helen hoped Ashley would be some day ready to help her with all the work but she didn't wish to show her little one the bad side of her job today. She really hoped it would be a peaceful trip and they both would enjoy it.

Suddenly Ashley couldn't be quiet any longer. She didn't want to disturb her mother in her thoughts but she had her head full of questions and her desire for answers grew bigger and bigger with every minute passing by in silence.

"Mom, what we are looking for? Is there a hidden new abnormal?" Ashley finally asked the two most pressing questions she had in her head.

Helen stopped walking and looked at her daughter. Her questions reminded her that Ashley was no longer the little baby she used to be. She was growing up so quickly that it surprised Helen from time to time. She was introducing her daughter to her world slowly so Ashley knew what her mother was doing but she didn't know about the difficult and dangerous part. Even though this trip looked like an easy one, Helen thought that she should prepare her daughter that it could change into something not so cool as Ashley was thinking about the adventure now.

"Do you remember when I told you about vampires?" Helen asked her daughter.

Ashley nodded with her head so vehemently that her blonde hair flew forwards and backwards. She always tried to remember everything her mom was telling her about every abnormal they were talking about. She wanted to be like her mom so she was always paying attention.

"Well, I think somewhere here could be a hidden place with information about vampires. I'd like to know more about them and I think there could be some things that belonged to them." Helen explained.

"That's cool, mom!" Ashley exclaimed happily. "But how do you want to find it when it's hidden?" She asked the most important question.

Helen smiled. Ashley always could pick up the most important question. It reminded her when she has been a child and was talking with her dad about something interesting. Helen has been as curious as her daughter was now.

"That's the reason why I came here early, to have enough time for finding it. Look, we are still at the beginning of this tunnel and who knows where it will lead us." Helen explained to her daughter.

Ashley nodded thoughtfully. This made sense to her so she started to walk slowly forward. She really wanted to discover something interesting, something she could talk to Biggie about. Ashley knew that there wasn't any vampire left on the Earth but she hoped there would be hidden something cool because she knew vampires were cleverer than humans like her mom had told her.

Then they suddenly came to the end of the tunnel. There wasn't any other way on the left or on the right side. It looked like a dead end without any trace of vampires. Ashley sighed. This wasn't what she had expected. She thought there would be big cave full of vampire technology. The dead end disappointed her more than she had imagined.

"What now?" Ashley asked with sad voice "Are we going home?"

But Helen wasn't listening to her. She went closer to the stone wall to look at it more carefully. She was so sure this was the right cave so she couldn't admit that she was wrong. After so many weeks of research she didn't want to turn back and walk away with empty hands. There had to be something she felt it in her guts. When she touched the wall, there was a big noise and the wall started to move to the right side of the tunnel. Helen took a few steps away from the wall with her eyes fully open with awe.

„That was cool, mom! How did you do that?" Ashley asked excitedly.

Helen glanced back at her daughter and then again at the new entrance. She wasn't sure how she had opened the hidden door but something was telling her that it was connected somehow with the vampire blood she injected years ago. She has never told her daughter about it and she definitely didn't want to tell her now.

„I'm not sure, honey" she finally answered her daughter. „I think it knows that we are good girls and we only want to look inside" she smiled at her.

„We can go inside, right?" Ashley asked a little bit nervous. She hoped they could go in but she was nervous about what could be waiting for them there. Then she reminded herself that she wanted to experience some adventures. This was the reason why she was hiding the whole time in the trunk of her mom's car.

„Yes, we can" Helen nodded. „But stay with me all the time, alright? We have no idea what's waiting for us so it would be better to be careful just in case we find something what could be dangerous." Helen tried to calm her daughter down. She saw in her eyes that she was nervous and she wasn't as enthusiastic as she was when Helen found out Ashley was following her. „Don't worry, we'll be fine."

Ashley smiled at her mom and she took her hand. Even though she told everyone she was a big girl, right now she felt like she was four years old again when she has been afraid of the darkness. Her heart was pounding so quickly that Ashley thought it had to jump out of her body.

Helen squeezed Ashley's hand and smiled an encouraging smile at her. She knew her daughter was frightened but she appreciated that she didn't want to turn back and go back to the Sanctuary. Helen was proud of her brave little one. She really hoped they wouldn't find anything dangerous, anything what could scare Ashley. Helen was prepared for everything but she could imagine how difficult it had to be for Ashley who did this for the very first time of her life.

Then they finally took their first step together. They slowly passed the open door and went inside the cave. They didn't see everything, only the area which was illuminated by their lights. But what they saw disappointed them. There wasn't anything interesting, any vampire's technology, anything valuable. When they were inside the cave, something unexpected happened.

The door behind them, or more likely the wall, which opened when Helen touched it, started to close. Helen left Ashley's hand and rushed toward the entrance. She tried to stop the door closing but she wasn't strong enough. The door closed with final puff and Helen and Ashley were trapped.

„Mom?" Ashley asked nervously. She did her best to suppress panic in her voice but she was sure she wasn't completely successful.

Helen came back to her daughter and hugged her tightly. „Don't worry, we'll be perfectly fine. I'm sure there is another exit, we just have to find it. In the meantime we can explore this cave. I hope we can find something what will tell us where the second exit is."

Ashley was glad she was here with her mom, who knew perfectly what to do. If she would have been here alone she would have panicked. But hidden in mom's arms she felt safe although she didn't like they were trapped. She didn't like this adventure any more.

TO BE CONTINUED...