A Talley-only chapter with memories and some hints and stuff. It was meant to be more but I thought it ran sort of long. We'll put more focus on the League later on, m'kay?
Clez – Here you go then. Always glad to be of service.
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Talley took a quick look around himself. There weren't many people around the exact spot. Apparently, their instincts told them to steer clear of it all. Or maybe they simply didn't have much business there. Talley opened the murky door and took a quick look at the sunrise before he went inside. The inside was almost as decayed as the front. The small room had only a table and an empty bookcase. It dripped water from a hole in the wall. Talley groaned loudly and wondered why all the 'interesting' people lived at such terrible places. He closed the door behind him, noticing how the room went pitch black. While he waited for his eyes to accustom themselves to the dark, he felt the unmistakable feeling of cold steel against his throat.
"Hello." A deep voice said behind him. Talley didn't wait for more, he quickly grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it while he reached back and took a tight grip of the man's collar. With two movements, he stood snarling at the man who was pressed against the wall. The man snarled back and gave him a violent kick in his groin. Talley grunted but didn't let the man down. Light spread through the room.
"There, there now! No need to be so violent, Eric." Another voice said. Talley glanced at the old woman with a lamp in her hand. At first, he didn't notice anything strange. Then he understood that he only saw the top of her body. She stared at a woman who was halfway stuck in the floor. She smiled at him.
"Could you put Eric down, please?"
Talley slowly let Eric down from his grip. Eric rubbed his wrist and picked his knife up from the floor with a grumble. Talley ignored him and looked at the woman. He saw now that she stood in a hatch in the floor.
"What's your name and your business here?" she asked. He smirked. Short and concise. Good lady.
"My name is Talley, and my business is none of yours. I'm here to speak with your leaders."
The woman raised an eyebrow.
"Our leaders? There are no 'leaders' here, this is no cult."
"Of course you wouldn't put it that way. Can I speak to them now?"
The woman grinned and looked over his shoulder. Apparently Eric did something, since she nodded.
"Come with me then." She said and disappeared down the hatch. Talley took a second to look back. Eric was nowhere to be seen. He looked up in the roof and saw him crouched on a ceiling-joist. Eric looked down on him, smirked and lodged the knife into the joist with a movement that told that it had been done almost daily. Talley turned around and went down the hatch. He came down into a tunnel with damp air. The woman stood ahead of him, apparently waiting for him.
"Took your sweet time." She stated.
"I had to say goodbye to Eric."
"You didn't kill him, did you?"
"He was out of reach."
She smiled grimly and turned around, going down the hall. Talley followed, looking around himself. There was something strange about the stony walls. He couldn't place exactly what though.
"Underground. Intelligent." He said.
"It keeps us away from prying eyes." The woman said without looking back.
"Of course."
They continued walking for about 5 minutes. Talley noticed how the halls seemed to be built to be perfect for ambush. They came out into a large hall, lit by old-fashioned lanterns and, at some places, fires. Talley looked at the large crowd below him. There seemed to be people of all ages, sizes and races there. Some had made groups, sitting together in corners or under pieces of cloth hung up to give the impression of small homes. Talley gave them a critical look and glanced at the woman. She shrugged.
"It's a kind of home."
"I'm sure. How can this place be so large?"
She smiled.
"Ancient secrets. London has been here before the 19th century, you know." She said. Talley began to walk down the large staircase. It seemed to be big enough to let 15 men walk side by side down it. Some people glared at him when he came down. He could smell sweat, blood and human filth. He realized that they were all dressed in clothes that were tattered and torn at best. He stopped at the base of the stair, staring out into the crowd.
There were so many…
He began to make his way through the crowd. Some he bumped into, some stepped out of his way. At places, a small path was made for him. He came out into a clearing of the human forest. He looked at the tree persons on a bench while he listened to the talking crowd around him. Only one of them noticed him. A young man who seemed to be in his early twenties stared at him. Beside him sat a woman about thirty, listening to a man who apparently told her some story. The young man got up from the bench (which seemed to be the only one in the entire hall) and walked up to Talley. He was at least a head shorter than Talley. Talley looked at his torn clothes that might have been colourful once and smiled. The young man glared at him. If there had been silence, it would have been the perfect picture of a battle of will.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I want to speak to your leaders, boy." Talley replied. All colour disappeared from the man's face. He pressed his lips together so they made a thin line. He turned to the woman on the bench who were now saying something to the man, patting him on his shoulder while she did so.
"Talon!" he called. She looked up on him and noticed Talley. She frowned, before her face broke up in a smile that almost seemed to be recognizing. She gracefully got up from the bench and came towards the man and Talley. Talley looked at her, wondering why he recognized her.
"What's this, then? Another one comes to join us in our home-made misery?" she said before she laughed quietly. She stroked a strand of black hair out of her face. "Well, if you're here, you've already hit the bottom."
"I'm not here to join you." Talley replied coldly. "I'm here to give you an offer."
"Offer?" she repeated and raised an eyebrow. She glanced at the young man and smiled.
"Offer? Did you hear that, Javier? He comes all the way down here to offer us something."
Javier grinned at Talon and said something quietly. She nodded and he left them. Talon looked up on Talley again.
"What are you here to give me?" she asked. Talley looked at the crowd around him.
"Isn't there somewhere more private where we can talk?" he asked. He thought that he saw an enraged shine in her amber eyes, but her smile didn't face. She took his hand and began leading him through the crowd. He looked back and saw that as soon as they left, people occupied the bench. She took him to a rickety shack, apparently the only building in the hall. She moved a piece of drapery and invited him into the gloomy room. She lit some candles before she sat down on a pile of mattresses. She looked at him.
"Speak."
Talley looked at the small light on the candle and took a deep breath. There was something unnerving about being in the same room with this woman that seemed so familiar.
"My employer has a nice offer for you. He is willing to give all that wants it here protection, shelter and food. He owns a large piece of land in America that he will let you live on, cattle for you and large homes for you to stay in at cold nights." He said, mostly to get it done with. He met her gaze and a shudder went through his body. She looked surprised.
"Someone is willing to give us this?"
He nodded, suddenly unable to tear his eyes away from her.
"What's the catch?"
"In exchange for this, he wants your strengths and abilities. Your loyalty."
"So your 'employer' knows about our… affliction?"
"That's the reason he offers you this."
She leaned back on the pillows again and nodded. She looked at a spot on the floor. When her attention wasn't focused on him, he let his eyes run over her, noticing every detail. He couldn't remember when he had last seen a woman like her.
"Does that mean that only those that can fight for him is allowed there?"
"That's what he had in mind." Talley replied, assuming that she would refuse. To his surprise, she smiled.
"Good. I think my clan needs some thinning out. I will have to gather those who are able to fight and tell them about your employers offer."
"What kinds of creatures do you have here? Just werewolves?" Talley asked.
"Humans, werewolves and a few vampires. Why?"
"Just curious… How long will it take you to gather all you want to bring?"
"About 15 minutes, I guess. It depends."
Talley nodded, still shivering slightly. The damp air was driving him crazy.
"Then I will wait out in the sun, if you don't mind. I'll be right outside the door on the surface." He said and moved the piece of drapery out of his way.
"But I do mind, Gregory Talley." Talon purred behind him. He froze in his step, staring out on the crowd. He slowly let the drapery slide back on place and turned towards her. She was standing now, looking at him with a slight smile.
"How do you…?"
"Know your name?" she interrupted. "I remember it, Greg. How do you think I'd forget?"
Talley stared at her, trying desperately to remember who she was, if he even knew her. Her face awoke something deep within him; something he thought had died in the asylum.
"I don't know you…" he whispered. She nodded slightly.
"I understand if you don't remember, Greg. In fact, I'm surprised that you even remember yourself after all these years, that you didn't go feral."
"How do you know me then? How can you know my name, where I have been?"
She looked down in the floor. Talley thought she looked so lonely, so abandoned by all, that he almost wanted to comfort her.
"I know where you have been because one of my clan mates kept an eye on you all these years. And your name…" she said and the smile crept back into her face, igniting a flame in her eyes. "… I remember your name because you made me. Because you wanted to hear it all those nights. Every. Single. Night."
Talley stared at her, she stared back. He tried harder to remember her. He went through his memories, trying hardest to remember lovers, whose names he had whispered and screamed all the lonely nights. There was no lover he could remember that even reminded him of her. He thought about all other experiences in life. What little education he got, his first job, his first kiss, when he got married for the first time…
Wasn't there…?
He frowned, trying to reach that faint memory. As if a plug had been pulled simply by attempting to remember it all, the memories washed over his mind.
"I thought she'd never arrive! Mr. Talley…"
The middle-aged man in front of him, the leader of the expedition, put his hand on his shoulder and turned him towards the docks with a smile.
"May I introduce to you, the guide's helper on this journey, Ms. Veronica Carter."
Talley looked at the woman who was coming towards the ship and gasped. She struggled with her bags, apparently muttering curses while trying to carry them. Talley stared at her and reminded himself that he was a married man. A married man. She looked up towards the ship, grinned and waved. He hesitated at first, but waved back. Beside him, the leader chuckled.
"She's beautiful…" Quatermain said. "…isn't she?"
His eyes widened in surprise. He stared at the woman he thought he would never see again.
"Veronica…?" he whispered, astonished at the fact that he remember. She nodded at first, but then broke out in laughter and threw herself in his arms and kissed him violently. He put her arms around her, kissing her back as violently while his body reminded him that he hadn't had any human contact this intimate for years. When he leaned back from her to get some breath, she grinned and broke free from his embrace.
"So now that you remember my name, let me remind you what kind of a relationship we had…" she said in a quiet and incredibly arousing way. He took a hard grip on her arms and kissed her again while pressing her down on the mattresses.
