Chapter 2: Down In The Dark
Los Angeles, two months later
After an hour of wandering through the tunnels Vi decided to pick up speed.
The Kota demons had to be down here somewhere. They'd been tracking the creatures for more than a week. Ever since the rumors began spreading in local bars. Rumors about strange things that were happening under the city. About demons gathering in tunnels below L.A. About the excavation of a weapon. It was Kota their sources had said, but nobody offered any more details. The Kota were famously reclusive. A nocturnal demon species that lived deep in the earth and rarely ventured above ground. They didn't mingle.
Vi wanted to get this hunt over with. It was probably their last big job in L.A. She had been scheduled to return to New York months ago, but then it had never been the right time. Something always came up. Another demon lair to raid. Another nascent cult to stop from stealing first-borns.
Slayer Organization Headquarters had started the organized withdrawal of their teams from the disaster zone in the previous year. The New York and Chicago squads had been next in line two times already, but two times they'd declined and offered their spots to another group of Slayers and Watchers instead. Some thought they were noble and generous. Others thought they were reckless and bloodthirsty.
Three years ago their squads had been the first to arrive in Los Angeles when the demon armies had overrun the city. After the assassination of the Circle of the Black Thorne the Senior Partners had retaliated by unleashing forces unto L.A. that even Dante could not have made up. Thousands of demons had ravaged the city for months until Angel's team, the Slayers, and two divisions of the U.S. Army had finally won the upper hand. Even demons didn't do well against rocket launchers and tanks in the end. The story among Slayers was that it had been one of Vi's famous hunches that had led them right into the middle of the biggest battle the United States had seen since the Civil War. They said that the NY squad considered themselves elite because they had been on the ground during those early days when it rained fire and the onslaught of demon hordes never stopped.
Neither tale was true.
Rona caught up with Vi and fell in step with her sister Slayer. Jules and Kaori, the two younger members in their team, were still behind.
"You know we could just ask the boys to take over this case. They don't need us anymore. It's time we head out," Rona said. "And maybe it's just me, but I'm tired of crawling through tunnels and debris looking for cockroaches the size of compact cars. I need a vacation. Badly."
"The demons we're tracking actually resemble giant mole-rats," Vi noted without paying much attention to her friend's complaints.
Vi and Rona had had this conversation several times before and Rona was right of course. Angel and his team could take care of L.A. on their own at this point. They still exchanged intel on demon activity with each other and coordinated their patrols, but the city didn't need two dozen monster hunters anymore. The fighting had subsided enough for the Hyperion crew to get by.
The Slayers turned another corner. Nothing. Vi had been sure they were on the right trail. The girls spread out and searched the ground for more tracks. They didn't even need their flashlights. Down here the walls of the tunnels emitted a strange blue light as if they'd been coated by glow-in-the dark paint. Maybe it was some type of fungus? Or some crazy case of bio-fluorescence? Beyond the shimmer on the walls the tunnels were completely empty. They hadn't come across a single demon. Nor a cockroach for that matter. It was cool down here, and quiet, the only sound was the plop of water drops that fell from the vaulted ceilings every now and then.
Vi put her hand on the tunnel wall and moved it over the hard stone. A layer of glowing dust stuck to her fingers and her palm. She took a closer look at her hand when a strange smell hit her. A breeze of fresh air in the dank and musty tunnel. As if someone had tried to cover the scent of old earth with citrus car fresheners. She felt queasy. Then it was gone.
"Ro?" Vi held up her hand for the other girl to see. "Do you think this is natural?"
"No, I think it's unnatural. An unnatural pain in the ass."
"These tunnels. Aren't they oddly shaped? As if someone made them on purpose?"
"What do you mean? Someone made them? Like termites? Giant termites? Oh god, let it not be termites." Rona shuddered in disgust.
They continued walking, took another corner and then the tunnel opened up into a large cave in front of them. Possibly two or three stories tall, the walls suddenly rose high. The cave was deep and tapered off into another tunnel opening on its far side. They quietly crossed the hall, fists and stakes raised, making sure no demons or termites were creeping up from behind. A sickly sweet smell wavered around them, making Vi wish the lemon scent had stuck around. Jules covered her nose and mouth with her bandana.
"Is that a door?" Kaori asked.
Two ten-foot stone slabs framed the passage, but unlike the rest of the cave these stones were of a lighter material. They were covered in scratches and had been discolored by ash and soot. Below and next to them drag marks pitted the ground. Someone had desperately tried to get in here and succeeded.
Rona put her hand on one of the stones and started wiping off a fine layer of dust. Several shapes came to the surface. Three triangles intertwined. Other signs that were more intricate. Kaori pulled a small point-and-shoot camera from her pant-pocket and took a picture. The smell was almost unbearable now. Vi had encountered this particular stench often during the last years. She braced for the worst.
A low crack echoed in the dark beyond the entrance. Vi stepped around one of the stones and peered into the cave in front of them. The fluorescent light was much less pervasive there, making it nearly impossible to see beyond the first few yards. Something shimmered on the ground.
"Hey! Can you guys help me light that space before we go inside? I'd really rather see what's expecting us," Vi called over to the other Slayers.
Rona and Jules took out their flashlights and pointed them towards the dark and dingy hall.
A gasp cut through the silence.
In front of them lay dozens of demons. Large heads with tiny ears, tiny eyes and long snouts, their forearms ending in huge shovel-shaped claws.
All of them were dead.
Vi leaned back from the mid-century table and inspected her drawing. This was the third time she had started over. Kaori's pictures from the cave had come out too blurry and too dark, making it nearly impossible to decipher any of the signs on the stone doors. In an effort to save their intel Vi had sat down to reproduce the symbol, hard as she tried though, none of her scribbles ever seemed right. She just hoped they would suffice as a clue for someone who knew more about hieroglyphics than her. Maybe one of the Watchers at Headquarters could figure it out. Giles and Carol Potter were well versed in ancient languages. They'd been in the job much longer than Martin, the last remaining Watcher in L.A. She tried to recall if it was Jake Mara who had a master's in archaeology. Maybe he would be their guy.
After they had come back up from the cave Rona had suggested handing the case over to Angel one more time. And Vi had wanted to take a pass, she really had. But as the days progressed without any progress, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing, that they'd overlooked an important detail. And that feeling had stuck with her like a piece of gum under her shoe, nagging her every step that she took. She'd talked to SOHQ this morning, telling them about what they had found and that they just needed a little more time in L.A. Rowena hadn't said much in return, but had made a huffy noise instead. Being a former squad leader herself she understood that Vi felt responsible, but as the Slayer in charge of unit planning her patience was wearing thin. Vi knew leadership was planning to pull the plug. Reassign them, if they wanted to or not. If she wanted to solve this puzzle, she had to find proof that this was more than just a case of demonic gang violence.
Right now the symbols on the doors were their best leads on what had happened underground. Maybe the Kota really had found a mythical weapon and as a result a fight had broken out. It was a first theory, but it wasn't enough. After discovering the demons, the Slayers had only briefly entered the dingy halls to look for more clues. Safety first was the mantra ever since they had lost two girls in a preventable ambush. Whoever the Kota-killer was, they had been merciless and thorough and a surprise attack from the shadows could have ended badly for the Slayers. The overpowering stench of rotting flesh had done its part in ensuring that they left as quickly as possible.
Vi added another small circle to her drawing, then suddenly dropped the pencil, jerked her right hand upward and grabbed a wrist next to her shoulder. She held the arm tight, moving it slowly away from her body and to the side of her chair.
"Hi Spike," she said without turning to look at the vampire behind her.
"What's up, luv?"
"4:2 to me."
"Almost caught you though."
"Dude, not even close."
Spike sauntered around the table and dropped down in an armchair across from Vi.
"So did you girls kill some ugly suckers tonight?"
Vi looked up from her scribbles. "Nah, but we hit a whole jackpot of ugly the other day. Are the others coming, too?"
"Gunn and Gwen should be here any minute. Angel's out on some errand with Junior. What did you find?"
"We told you about those tunnels we uncovered? Someone committed demon mass murder down there."
Spike perked up. "Are you saying strangers are stealing our jobs?"
"So it really wasn't you guys? I thought there might have still been the chance."
"Nah." Spike held up his hands to underline his innocence. "It wasn't us. We would've bragged about that one already. We're still bloody behind this month." They glanced over to the scoreboard made of printer paper that Gunn had pinned to one of the walls in the lounge. Slayers United was very clearly in the lead against Hyperion D.(usting) C.(lub). Spike chuckled. "We have to hide the board. Angel hates it. He's gonna eat all that paper in a hissy-fit of self-righteous anger one of these days."
Vi grinned. "Psh! He only objects to it when he's losing. By the way do you guys wanna take over some demon pack-rat incidents from us? Those goblins are only child-sized. They might be more up your alley? Could bring up your score."
Spike grabbed a piece of paper, scrunched it up and threw it at Vi. "Oi. Not long ago I was still teaching you how to defend yourself against fledgling vamps and now look at this insolence."
Vi's grin widened. Then another thought crossed her mind and her smile vanished again. "But something's off, right? He's off?"
Spike waved his hand, as if that could dispel the notion. "Who? Angel? Angel's being Angel. All tortured and morose. That's his shtick. He's not happy unless he's unhappy. Don't fret about it."
Vi wanted to add something else, but Spike already leaned over the table to get a look at the papers in front of her. "So do you have any idea who did it?"
"Not really. So far we only have these engravings." Vi slid her drawings across the table.
"Well that's one ugly ass tri…" Spike picked up the paper and looked at the sketch more closely. "Oh bugger! I've seen signs like these before." He looked up at Vi with a frown on his face. "Does a place called 'Deeper Well' sound familiar to you?"