12
DEEPER INTO THE CAVES
Ashley lowered her weapon, deliberately letting the vampire see the safety click on. She holstered it at her waist, out of sight.
"What happened fifty years ago?" she asked carefully.
The vampire retreated, sinking into the cavern and its comforting dark. He was old. Every feature on his pale face had shrivelled to the bone, reflecting the cave-light along sharp, jutting angles. His black eyes were vulnerable. Their glossy domes sat high, accommodating a multi-layered lens which refracted the light differently to humans. The adaptation caused a red glow to leak from them giving him an unfairly sinister disposition. It was easy to see how an ancient culture may have confused them with devils.
A small flicker of electricity licked the cave wall around them with a short snap.
"I – I do not remember exactly," the vampire whispered, his voice cracked. "The city fell. I read of it, scratched into the walls with my very own claws. The memories of that time are gone. I cannot explain it. I must have seen..." He turned away – flashes of something storming through his mind but he couldn't focus on them.
Ashley shifted uneasily. "Are you the soul survivor?"
"If I wasn't then, I am now." The vampire dragged his broken claws down the cave wall eliciting a shower of sparks. "The Sanctuary is dead. This dream..." Such a young creature could not understand what he had lost.
"I've seen the city," Ashley added softly. "They killed each other. You didn't kill them, if that's what you – "
The vampire wasn't listening. He stepped forward and lifted his withered hand up to her face. Ashley held her ground as he mimicked the contours of her skin with a sweep of claws.
"You are a child of the blood – I can smell it in you." His head tilted to the side as if she were a curious piece of prey. It was his blood flowing through their veins – a very strange sensation. "The same blood as the woman and that mongrel vampire. What brings you to such depths as to seek my help?"
"My friend is sick," she whispered, her features softening. "He was mauled by something we call a 'sand creature' – a person, bitten by a vampire and turned into a mad half-creature. I need your blood to save him."
The ancient vampire threw his head back in chilling laughter, withdrawing from her as the sound screeched off the cave walls. This human child had wasted her time. There was no cure for the plague.
"Go home – forget your friend. He is a slave to the flesh."
Detective Joe Kavanaugh set the glass slide down beside the microscope. The virus was inactive – as dead as something that was never technically alive could get. He levelled his gaze at it.
"So there is a cure." Joe turned to the sasquatch. The creature was lingering amongst the delicate glassware on the opposing bench, furry paws prodding the odd slide. "There's hope for Dr Zimmerman, if we can find him."
"And if we can fiiiind another vampire," Bigfoot drawled. "This did not come from hiiis blood – it's from his bite. There's some kind of venom in this sample. I managed to isolate a small sample but hardly enough for Will."
"...the others are trying to collect blood samples. That won't be enough..." Joe paced around the room, passing in front of the mermaid's tank. She watched curiously, remaining little more than a silver shadow in the water. "We have to tell them."
"Beeeen tryin' to reach them for days," Bigfoot muttered, shaking his head. "They don' answer their phones."
"How long have they been gone?" Joe moved to the printer, catching another analysis as it printed. Biology wasn't exactly his thing but he'd spent enough time lurking around the lab at the department to pick up the basics.
"They've been out of contact nearly three days," Bigfoot replied. "Magnus must have found somethin' out there in the jungle."
"I have to go and find her."
"You're stayn' here," Bigfoot growled firmly. "We've got to catch Helen's protege."
Henry dug his claws into the mud and dragged himself onto the bank. Burning fragments from the ruined boat rained around him, splashing into the water or striking the bank, erupting in tiny grass fires. The smuggler's corpse floated down stream until something pulled it beneath the water. Henry shivered, dragging himself further into the long grass.
He lay there, staring up at the night sky. The reeds whispered against his fury body, bending and sighing in the wind. The explosions from the boat were dying as it too sank into the dark river. When it was gone, only the grass fires lit the world.
Henry thought about changing into human form – of seeking out the few children hiding not far from him and asking for directions – but there was something about this world that frightened him.
The werewolf rolled over and crouched on all fours, tilting his nose to the air. A village – to his left – boats, cars and houses. Henry could smell them through the smoke.
"We're not equipped to take down a vampire..." Helen shook her head, hunting through her pack. There was precious little in it that could neutralise a creature that powerful.
"Good to know," Nikola flexed his claws.
"Nikola, you're only part vampire. I can bat my eyelashes and take you down."
That caused the Serbian scientist to stumble mid-strut as he sauntered into the alcove. He was always so dramatic. "Neither of you have considered the obvious." Nikola received blank stares from both John and Helen. "We talk to him. It. At the end of the day, vampires are rational creatures. Pissed... but still highly intelligent."
John scoffed.
"What scheme are you concocting, Nikola?" Helen straightened up, hands on her hips. "Weren't you the one rabbiting on about how dangerous ancient vampires are? You're up to something, I can feel it. You're always up to something."
"Not everything your protege says is true," Nikola insisted.
"He's a profiler..."
Nikola grinned, his fangs visible against his lips. "Perhaps I just wanted to spend more time in your company, Dr Magnus."
"Nikola..." she stalked towards him with a scowl on her lips. It was getting airless down here if only because the vampire used it all up on his bite-less flattery. "If I find out that you've manipulated us into coming here for one of your pet projects – endangered my daughter – I'm going to clear out your old cell in my basement."
His grin only got wider. "Me – you – chains... Why Helen, you should have said. Ow." He rubbed his cheek where she'd slapped him again.
"Focus! God."
Nikola's gaze settled on John, lurking against the cave wall. The man was the very embodiment of nightmare and at the present, amused by Tesla's rejection.
Tesla ran his fingers through his spiky hair which was tainted by dust. "I can feel the vampire, he's not far from here." His cheek was still red when he turned back to the tunnel. "There are electrical fluctuations in the air and they're getting stronger this way. He can smell us from miles away and evade us easily if he wishes. About our only advantage is - "
"A serial killer that can teleport?" Helen interjected helpfully.
"I was going to say – a genius." Nikola pointed at himself. "Come on, Helen..." he added in a whisper, eyeing her hungrily. "We both know who he's most interested in. How could he resist?"
Helen frowned and then shook her head at Nikola, her stomach flipping unsteadily. "Nikola – no."
"Yesssss..."
He moved towards her until his face was within inches of hers. Nikola tilted his head, lips moving to her ear to whisper. "For over a hundred years we were a world apart and yet I could still hear your heart beat – my immortal..."
Helen's eyes closed at his whispered words. They felt as if they had fallen from another time. For so many years they'd said nothing, hidden under professional endeavours of cheap insults. Nikola was right. Helen could feel the other vampire like a cold breath of air on the world. He wasn't like Nikola...
"What if he kills me?" she murmured, her eyes opening in time to catch Nikola's gaze. He was far too close to her, those playful eyes of his dangerous.
"I won't let him." Opportunistic bastard that he was, Nikola stole a kiss from her neck and headed off down the corridor. "Come along..." he insisted, and continued rattling off geological facts about the cave system.
John watched on, his eyes darker than before – his smile gone.
The flames licked at the sky, ripping from tree to tree as a bundle of fur tore into the village. Its inhabitants were assembled outside, forming a network of water buckets and barn shovels, awaiting the wall of fire.
Henry took the door of the post office with one heavy impact. He tumbled inside, thrashing around on the ground as his fur and claws disappeared back into this skin leaving him naked on the ground.
"Urgh... Ow," Henry rolled onto his side and then used the counter to haul himself back to his feet. People screamed outside as Henry foraged through the desk drawers until he found a satellite phone.
"Biggie!" he sank down into the chair with relief when he heard the familiar grunt on the line. "I'm in the middle of nowhere – I need you to track the – what?" Henry leaned forward sharply. "Are you kidding me?"
"Bring the vampiiiiire back," Bigfoot repeated. "We'll find Will."
When the line went dead, Henry hugged the phone to his naked chest. It was his only possession in the world.
"Bloody hell. I better find some clothes."
Helen couldn't take her eyes off the vampire.
Their party of three were heading deeper into the Sanctuary, following a series of neglected tunnels that wound their way down, following ancient streams. Nikola had spent the last hour rabbiting on about the geology of this underground world, taking particular interest in the limestone caves which they passed through every so often. It was a strange mix of nature and carefully cultivated beauty, bleeding together – both equally ravaged by time.
"Enough about the rocks," John hissed, boots splashing through the water at their ankles. There was something about this place that made him uncomfortable – as though it weren't quite dead yet. "Are we any closer?"
Helen rested her hand against her chest; her heart was beating too fast. It had been so long since she'd felt the darkness resting at the edge of her vision or felt that whispering desire. Succumb... It begged. Kill the vampire. Restore the balance.
She was startled to find Nikola frowning at her, his hand holding her at arm's length and her knife at his delicate throat.
"Wrong vampire..." he murmured, gently helping her lower the knife.
Helen nodded, slurring an apology.
John didn't understand what was going on between the two of them. There had always been something different about Helen. The Source blood had changed them all but he'd never been able to discover how. She was ageless, at least on the surface but beyond that, she was a mystery. It killed him to see that Tesla knew her secret.
"What are you not telling me?" John asked, stopping abruptly. The water rushed by his feet leaving tiny flecks of gold on his pants. "It's been over a hundred years, I think it's time I knew."
Helen and Nikola exchanged looks, neither saying anything.
"For heaven's sake, Helen. You honestly trust Tesla to keep your secrets? He's a vampire with an ego the size of Mars who'd sell you out for five minutes of fame."
Nikola remained silent.
"He left you," John continued, "sixty years of silence after you saved his miserable life. God knows I'm not perfect Helen, but he uses you for his own cause. You're a convenience.A rescue service with a pretty face, bottomless bank account and cellar full of wine."
There was a long pause, Helen's gaze locked firmly on John.
"Yes, I trust him," is all Helen would say.
John shifted uncomfortably. "The least you could do is tell me the plan. How do you envisage us walking out of here alive? And what about Ashley – or have you forgotten about our daughter?"
Helen reeled around, eyes as dark as John's.
"Either you stay and help or leave, John. My secrets are my own, a hundred years won't change that just as the years can't wash the blood from your hands."
"I'm not the only one with blood on my hands..." John loomed over Helen. He was easily half a foot taller than her and strong enough to knock her to the ground with one blow if he chose.
"I didn't kill innocent women-"
"No – just people that disagreed with you." John snapped back before Helen could finish.
Nikola was ignoring their bickering. Something wasn't right... He could hear whispers on the air that weren't real, unkind voices murmuring imagined insults, egging them on. They were being played with.
"Quiet!" Nikola hissed at the pair, shoving them roughly apart. "Listen... We're not alone down here."