Sands, Victoria and Andre – Day 4 part 13
The secret passageway Victoria had found was narrow, dark, and smelled of wood rot. Sands mentally calculated how many bullets he had left and wondered what he would do when he ran out. He didn't let on to either of his companions, but the silver had a continuing effect upon him, draining and painful. He vaguely wondered how long it would take to recover. He'd read something about it once, but that was a few decades ago, or perhaps last century.
Andre was in the lead, his light footsteps barely audible as he moved cautiously. Sands was aware of Victoria at his back. He wondered if he could pull the newly acquired trick here in this narrow stairwell if they were attacked.
Victoria watched Andre and Sands closely. Soon they would be on the stairwell and out of danger. Jacob was gone, but she still felt strangely, as if someone were watching her every move. "Sands?" she questioned sadly, "How long before I can't feel him anymore?"
The deeper darkness before her stopped and as he turned his head, she could just tell where the whiteness of his face was. "He's dead. What do you mean?"
"I sense someone. I feel like I'm being watched." She turned her face upwards. "I've had this feeling since we first approached the old house. When I went off to find the tunnel entrance. I though it was just Jacob." The thought that it wasn't Jacob sent chills up her spine.
She felt Sands' hand on hers. "Viscalli is here," he whispered. Victoria closed her hand around his. The full realization of what she had done was finally hitting her. "I went too far," her words trailed off.
His hand grew stronger. "What do you mean?"
Andre hissed at them.
"Come on," Sands pulled her down, trying to catch up with Andre. They could hear a loud commotion now. Below, not far from them, a fight had broken out. There were metal clangs and shouts, then light spilled into the secret passageway just beyond Andre and a handful of Viscalli's vampires came running up the stairs towards them.
Victoria pulled away from Sands her back hitting the wall opposite him. She aimed her weapon towards the on coming vampires. "We'll talk later," she yelled, "Andre needs us!"
Andre engaged the first vampire in, who was using a long steel pipe as his weapon. Three more ran past the dueling pair, one aiming a gun up into the darkness. Sands threw himself flat against the wall and fired into the vampire's head, careful not to shoot when Andrew was directly behind the brute. The bullet took out half the vampire's head and its corps flopped onto the stairs, sending blood splattering everywhere.
The two behind the dead vampire stopped, trapped between Andre's sword and invisible gunners above.
"Nice shot." Victoria whispered, smiling in the darkness. Victoria fired, logging a bullet in the knee cap of the first vampire. He screamed and fell to the ground clutching his wound and cussing profusely.
Sands held his fire until Andre had run his sword through the vampire he was fighting, then as Andre stepped back and against the wall, Sands fired at the remaining one they could still see, aiming for its head. The vampire had just turned to perhaps run back the way it came when Sands' bullet hit, killing him instantly.
Sands let his weapon arm drop to his side, gritting his teeth against the pain lifting his arm had caused. More bodies filled up the space where the first four had been, but even in the dimness, Sands could see they were Guardians, and Andre was saying, "Hold your fire. Hold your fire."
Victoria was thrilled to hear the familiar voices. Things would be all right now. She turned to Sands stepping closer to him. "I know you're hurting, is there anything I can do?" she whispered softly. Behind her the now familiar sound of Andre's sword finishing the vampire she had left with a bullet in his leg.
Sands' dark brown gaze locked with hers. "How do you know?" His tone held suspicion and doubt.
His reaction startled her. Her body tensed. "I have eyes, I can see."
Sands' eyes continued to hold hers, then he looked away, apparently satisfied with her explanation as he muttered, "I didn't realize it was so obvious."
Victoria relaxed and reached for his hand. "I think I've gotten to know you rather intimately. Do you want to lean on me?"
He shook his head and continued toward Andre, keeping his gun focused on the dead vampires as if he expected one of them to reanimate. Something suddenly struck Victoria; she knew that Sands had an issue revolving around trust, yet he seemed to trust her almost from the start. He didn't trust half of his clan house, so why had he trusted her?
The thought intrigued her and she smiled as she followed him down the hall gingerly stepping over the bodies of the fallen.
Sands' hair was falling into his eyes, half-covering his face, but he made no move to push it aside as he stood next to Andre. "Did I say thank you yet?" Victoria heard him ask Andre.
"No," Andre tilted his head, a smile appearing on his lips as he studied his friend. "I think I deserve a reward for this."
Sands looked back at Victoria, a half-smile on his lips. "What did you have in mind?" he asked, turning back to Andre.
"I shall have to consider it," Andre grinned, looking past Sands until his gaze locked with Victoria. "Victoria and I risked or butts, beautiful as they are, for you."
Victoria lowered her face to hide the smile Andre's teasing had exposed. "Is it over?" she ask quietly. "Have we beaten them all?" She asked the question but already knew the answer in her heart. Jacob was gone and most of Viscalli's troops. But he was still alive, she felt him searching for her presence and she tried to shear up her walls of resistance to him.
One of the Guardians answered her. "I think we've gotten them all. Sands, are you able to walk out on your own steam?"
"Yeah, Cassidy," Sands told him. "My legs are working just fine." He held onto Victoria's hand again, dragging her into the light.
They were in a kitchen, one not used much by the looks of things. A few more dead vampires and a dead human littered the floor.
She squinted her eyes for a brief moment becoming accustomed to the light. She looked at his naked torso, slim and well muscled. Her eyes drawn to the charred marks on his flesh where the silver had pierced him. She let out a breath. Victoria remembered that feeling, the intense pain that silver brought. It could bring you quickly to your knees and have you begging for death. She watched Sands as he spoke to the tall Guardian, he was amazing.
"Where's the way out?" Sands asked. He looked into Victoria's eyes, the hint of a grin on his lips.
She smiled back at him. "This way." She stepped forward and this time lead him. She crossed the blue and white titles of the kitchen floor and headed for the stairs down to the cellar, and then suddenly stopped. "Wait." She turned. "If we have control of the house and grounds we can use the front doors." She looked around Sands to Cassidy the Guardian to whom they had just been speaking. He nodded. Victoria smiled as the Guardian radioed for the vehicles to be brought up to the front of the house.
"This way then." She smiled again and turned in the opposite direction. As she came closer to Andre she paused, "Come along Andre," her voice reflected her pleasure with what they had accomplished.
The two men followed Victoria as she left the kitchen, guided them through a small dining area, and out a side door into what once must have been a herb garden. She looked about, dismayed by the neglected little garden.
Victoria slowed her footsteps, her eyes saddened. She remembered how carefully she had tended to the little plants. She paused as she brushed her fingertips across a wilted lavender bush. The cherub fountain in the center of the path was partial broken and the water was only a trickle now.
"We need to get out of here," Sands said in a warm velvety voice, his lips against her ear. She turned to see him, his face right next to hers.
"The danger is gone," she reminded him.
"The pain of your memories are not," he replied.
She smiled, and touched his cheek. His concern for her even when he himself was in so much pain moved her. She nodded and continued on. They came to a set of French doors which were partially ajar. Opening them the group entered the grand receiving hall. The once polished mahogany now faded with age, the doors to the front of the manor now lay directly ahead of them.
"Something is wrong," Andre's voice sounded from behind them. Victoria and Sands stopped and as one, turned to face him.
"It's too easy. I think, perhaps..." Andre's words trailed off.
"A trap?" Sands suggested.
Andre nodded. "We need the boys with the electronic toys to scan this room."
Victoria turned where she stood. Eyes scanning the double staircases, windows the doors on the balconies above. Everything seemed quiet, still. She turned her green eyes to Andre and then Sands. Still nothing . Then she shut them entirely and searched with her mind. She let her thoughts drift, travel to the upper floors, looking for anyone that presented a threat. She had even stopped breathing as she searched.
There was something. She could feel it. Some danger lay here. Her eyes flew open as Andre shouted "Quinn! We need some scanning."
There was the sound of approaching footsteps, and Quinn himself appeared, electronic equipment in both hands.
"Something's wrong here," Andre shrugged as Quinn pinned him with an inquiring stare.
"I feel it, too," Sands agreed.
"And I," Victoria added softly. Now that she'd located the sensation, she felt a sense of creepiness, the same sensation she felt when she read about some young kid belting dynamite to himself and going into Jerusalem to blow himself and several innocent people up with him.
Victoria watched as Quinn pulled out his scanning devices and slowly made a sweep of the floor and walls. Victoria glanced around the entry way carefully as Quinn made his rounds. What was out of place? Then she saw it. Just barely visible above the doorway. Her eyes shot to the windows that flanked the entrance, sunlight gently flooded in through the dust, but it was there to! "Sands," her grip tighten, "the doors and windows are wired!"
All four stepped backwards, even Quinn, who followed Victoria's lead and aimed his devices at the area above the door. "How sweet," he muttered. "That guy is a real jewel." He looked at the other three. "I suggest you go out another way, or wait until we get this deactivated.
The group stepped back through the French doors. Victoria looked to Sands to see what he wanted to do. In a house this big, there were always many way in and out, but now she worried about how many held special surprises.
"How did you get in?" he asked Victoria and Andre.
"This way," she smiled and crooked a finger.
The trio went back into the building, down the hall, and eventually they were passing the area where Sands had last seen Abberline. He looked around as they passed, wondering where the clan leader had disappeared to.
Down steps, over many dead bodies, and they came into the cellar area, past more dead vampires, and through the secret door. This lead eventually to the tunnel entrance where the two thralls stood still waiting for them, as they had been instructed.
Jackson and Klein seemed genuinely pleased that their masters had returned. "Welcome back Miss. Dupre," Jackson purred. Andre leaned closer to Sands. "Watch that one," he warned.
Sands frowned, his nose scrunching up as if he smelled something bad, then he walked away, following the footsteps the group had left when they descended upon the tunnel less than an hour earlier.
Victoria nodded pleasantly to Jackson and opened her mind to him. "Jackson, you should take your cues from Klein."
His blue eyes sparkled. "Why? Doesn't my attentive nature please you?" he answered silently.
Distracted by his question she did not notice Andre whispering to Sands. She shut her mind to Jackson, bothered by his forward demeanor. She frowned and Jackson lowered his gaze as Sand brushed past him, he pulled on Victoria's hand.
Sands headed out through the tunnel. His thrall quickly caught up. "Sir, let me make sure the way is still clear." Sands nodded and then turned his face back toward Victoria. The light from the cellar outlined her figure. "How long before we reach the end?" he questioned.
"It's a full mile, maybe a mile and a half."
He sighed, expressing his fatigue. "Let's get out of here."
Andre walked up beside his friend and put a friendly arm around him, steering him toward the tunnel exit. He faced Sands as they began to walk, speaking in soft low tones. Victoria studied them for a moment as she started after them more slowly. It didn't take her long to realize Andre was worried about Sands and his arm was there to prevent Sands from stumbling.
Biting her lip, she moved up to Sands' other side and slid her arm around his slim hips, her eyes looking past him to Andre. "We're the three amigos, aren't we?" she asked cheerfully.
"Oh, so you speak Spanish?" Andre asked casually. "Where did you learn that?"
As the two spoke lightly, Sands walked with his head down, his hair falling forward hiding his features from them. Victoria wondered if he knew what she and Andre were doing.
"What?" Victoria asked Andre. She had missed what he said.
"I was asking where you learned to speak Spanish," he responded. "Your accent sounds distinctly Spanish, not South American or Cuban."
She smiled. "I spent a little time in Madrid." Victoria reached up to brush some loose strands of hair from her eyes. "Jacob kept me moving from place to place, and I did so like Spain. So I lived in Madrid , Valencia, Barcelona. Your country is very beautiful."
"We met in Spain," Sands said softly.
"Yes," Andre agreed. "We should have been enemies, and I should have hated you, my brother. But you were so very charming. And you did arrange for me to kill someone who definitely deserved to die."
"I remember." Sands turned his head to glance at Andre. "A less kind person would have said I manipulated them."
Andre's full lips quirked up into a smile. "If I remember correctly, I did say something like that at the time. But, you did me a favor. I did you a favor. It all turned out splendidly." His dark eyes flashed to Victoria. "And, Victoria, you love Spain, as well. Perhaps the three of us should go there."
She looked into Andre's eyes, they were dark and warm. Then her gaze drifted to Sands. "Perhaps when we are feeling better."
"If you're referring to me," Sands spoke up, turning to smile in her direction, "I'm actually feeling just fine. Except where the silver was. The rest of me is peachy." He gave her a mysterious smile, before hiding his face beneath his falling hair again.
Victoria once again smiled, a great weight was lifted from her. "Then again, " she paused and smirked playfully shaking her head for Andre's amusement, "there are many places I would like to go now than I am no longer being hunted."
"Such as?" Andre asked.
She squeezed Sands gently, and looked towards Andre have you ever been to New Orleans?"
Sands turned his head toward her, throwing his hair out of his eyes. "There's no reason you can't go anywhere your heart desires now. You know that, right?" His tongue darted out and wet his lips before he added. "I'd kill anyone who tried to control you. So would Andre. Right, Andre?"
"Right." Andre nodded solemnly. A surge of happiness filled her. "Wonderful, then you shall take us to Spain, I shall take us to see my home", and then she turned her green eyes onto Sands. "Where will you take us sugar? Her accents heavily coating her words.
"I shall take you to England, of course." Sands suddenly spoke with an aristocratic British accent.
"He's a Brit," Andre said, as if explaining things to Victoria. "Tea lover."
"Greatest lovers in the world," Sands threw in.
"I would like that very much," she said quietly. "And I would like you to take me dancing again," she added with a smile in her voice as she spoke.
As they neared the end of the tunnel, the party fell silent, as if some unknown danger lay ahead in the faint afternoon glow.
"Send Klein and Jackson out first," Sands said softly to Andre. "I don't trust Viscalli. Only one booby trap... Not his style."
Andre nodded to the thralls who quickly exited the tunnel into the forest. Victoria closed her eyes and opened her mind, searching for his now familiar presences. Viscalli was still around, but where he was, she could not be sure.
"Where are the vehicles?" Sands asked, leaning back against the wall of the tunnel. "Anyone have a cigarette?"
Victoria looked to Andre. That was a very good question. She really had not been pay attention earlier when they arrived.
"I still do not smoke," Andre said in a scolding voice. "The cars are down around this area of the wood, out of site of the house." He gestured out the tunnel entrance.
"Oh, well that explains everything," Sands said sarcastically.
"Sands!" Victoria chided. "Be nice." The trio stepped to the edge of the tunnel, they could see the thralls scanning the edge of the treeline. "Is everything alright?" she called to Jackson.
Andre frowned, ducked down. Simultaneously, Sands pulled Victoria down with him to the tunnel's floor as gunfire erupted from within the trees.
"What's going on?!" Victoria shouted as she reached for her weapon. "More Viscalli! Haven't we killed enough of them for one day?"
"You two stay put," Andre said, rising to a half-crouch and darting out of the cave.
"Like that's going to happen," Sands muttered, flicking the safety on his gun off.
Victoria held on to Sands tightly. "Please, your hurt. I'll go."
"Hurt never stopped me before." He smiled wickedly, leaned over to kiss her quickly on the lips, then got to his feet and dashed out after Andre.
The secret passageway Victoria had found was narrow, dark, and smelled of wood rot. Sands mentally calculated how many bullets he had left and wondered what he would do when he ran out. He didn't let on to either of his companions, but the silver had a continuing effect upon him, draining and painful. He vaguely wondered how long it would take to recover. He'd read something about it once, but that was a few decades ago, or perhaps last century.
Andre was in the lead, his light footsteps barely audible as he moved cautiously. Sands was aware of Victoria at his back. He wondered if he could pull the newly acquired trick here in this narrow stairwell if they were attacked.
Victoria watched Andre and Sands closely. Soon they would be on the stairwell and out of danger. Jacob was gone, but she still felt strangely, as if someone were watching her every move. "Sands?" she questioned sadly, "How long before I can't feel him anymore?"
The deeper darkness before her stopped and as he turned his head, she could just tell where the whiteness of his face was. "He's dead. What do you mean?"
"I sense someone. I feel like I'm being watched." She turned her face upwards. "I've had this feeling since we first approached the old house. When I went off to find the tunnel entrance. I though it was just Jacob." The thought that it wasn't Jacob sent chills up her spine.
She felt Sands' hand on hers. "Viscalli is here," he whispered. Victoria closed her hand around his. The full realization of what she had done was finally hitting her. "I went too far," her words trailed off.
His hand grew stronger. "What do you mean?"
Andre hissed at them.
"Come on," Sands pulled her down, trying to catch up with Andre. They could hear a loud commotion now. Below, not far from them, a fight had broken out. There were metal clangs and shouts, then light spilled into the secret passageway just beyond Andre and a handful of Viscalli's vampires came running up the stairs towards them.
Victoria pulled away from Sands her back hitting the wall opposite him. She aimed her weapon towards the on coming vampires. "We'll talk later," she yelled, "Andre needs us!"
Andre engaged the first vampire in, who was using a long steel pipe as his weapon. Three more ran past the dueling pair, one aiming a gun up into the darkness. Sands threw himself flat against the wall and fired into the vampire's head, careful not to shoot when Andrew was directly behind the brute. The bullet took out half the vampire's head and its corps flopped onto the stairs, sending blood splattering everywhere.
The two behind the dead vampire stopped, trapped between Andre's sword and invisible gunners above.
"Nice shot." Victoria whispered, smiling in the darkness. Victoria fired, logging a bullet in the knee cap of the first vampire. He screamed and fell to the ground clutching his wound and cussing profusely.
Sands held his fire until Andre had run his sword through the vampire he was fighting, then as Andre stepped back and against the wall, Sands fired at the remaining one they could still see, aiming for its head. The vampire had just turned to perhaps run back the way it came when Sands' bullet hit, killing him instantly.
Sands let his weapon arm drop to his side, gritting his teeth against the pain lifting his arm had caused. More bodies filled up the space where the first four had been, but even in the dimness, Sands could see they were Guardians, and Andre was saying, "Hold your fire. Hold your fire."
Victoria was thrilled to hear the familiar voices. Things would be all right now. She turned to Sands stepping closer to him. "I know you're hurting, is there anything I can do?" she whispered softly. Behind her the now familiar sound of Andre's sword finishing the vampire she had left with a bullet in his leg.
Sands' dark brown gaze locked with hers. "How do you know?" His tone held suspicion and doubt.
His reaction startled her. Her body tensed. "I have eyes, I can see."
Sands' eyes continued to hold hers, then he looked away, apparently satisfied with her explanation as he muttered, "I didn't realize it was so obvious."
Victoria relaxed and reached for his hand. "I think I've gotten to know you rather intimately. Do you want to lean on me?"
He shook his head and continued toward Andre, keeping his gun focused on the dead vampires as if he expected one of them to reanimate. Something suddenly struck Victoria; she knew that Sands had an issue revolving around trust, yet he seemed to trust her almost from the start. He didn't trust half of his clan house, so why had he trusted her?
The thought intrigued her and she smiled as she followed him down the hall gingerly stepping over the bodies of the fallen.
Sands' hair was falling into his eyes, half-covering his face, but he made no move to push it aside as he stood next to Andre. "Did I say thank you yet?" Victoria heard him ask Andre.
"No," Andre tilted his head, a smile appearing on his lips as he studied his friend. "I think I deserve a reward for this."
Sands looked back at Victoria, a half-smile on his lips. "What did you have in mind?" he asked, turning back to Andre.
"I shall have to consider it," Andre grinned, looking past Sands until his gaze locked with Victoria. "Victoria and I risked or butts, beautiful as they are, for you."
Victoria lowered her face to hide the smile Andre's teasing had exposed. "Is it over?" she ask quietly. "Have we beaten them all?" She asked the question but already knew the answer in her heart. Jacob was gone and most of Viscalli's troops. But he was still alive, she felt him searching for her presence and she tried to shear up her walls of resistance to him.
One of the Guardians answered her. "I think we've gotten them all. Sands, are you able to walk out on your own steam?"
"Yeah, Cassidy," Sands told him. "My legs are working just fine." He held onto Victoria's hand again, dragging her into the light.
They were in a kitchen, one not used much by the looks of things. A few more dead vampires and a dead human littered the floor.
She squinted her eyes for a brief moment becoming accustomed to the light. She looked at his naked torso, slim and well muscled. Her eyes drawn to the charred marks on his flesh where the silver had pierced him. She let out a breath. Victoria remembered that feeling, the intense pain that silver brought. It could bring you quickly to your knees and have you begging for death. She watched Sands as he spoke to the tall Guardian, he was amazing.
"Where's the way out?" Sands asked. He looked into Victoria's eyes, the hint of a grin on his lips.
She smiled back at him. "This way." She stepped forward and this time lead him. She crossed the blue and white titles of the kitchen floor and headed for the stairs down to the cellar, and then suddenly stopped. "Wait." She turned. "If we have control of the house and grounds we can use the front doors." She looked around Sands to Cassidy the Guardian to whom they had just been speaking. He nodded. Victoria smiled as the Guardian radioed for the vehicles to be brought up to the front of the house.
"This way then." She smiled again and turned in the opposite direction. As she came closer to Andre she paused, "Come along Andre," her voice reflected her pleasure with what they had accomplished.
The two men followed Victoria as she left the kitchen, guided them through a small dining area, and out a side door into what once must have been a herb garden. She looked about, dismayed by the neglected little garden.
Victoria slowed her footsteps, her eyes saddened. She remembered how carefully she had tended to the little plants. She paused as she brushed her fingertips across a wilted lavender bush. The cherub fountain in the center of the path was partial broken and the water was only a trickle now.
"We need to get out of here," Sands said in a warm velvety voice, his lips against her ear. She turned to see him, his face right next to hers.
"The danger is gone," she reminded him.
"The pain of your memories are not," he replied.
She smiled, and touched his cheek. His concern for her even when he himself was in so much pain moved her. She nodded and continued on. They came to a set of French doors which were partially ajar. Opening them the group entered the grand receiving hall. The once polished mahogany now faded with age, the doors to the front of the manor now lay directly ahead of them.
"Something is wrong," Andre's voice sounded from behind them. Victoria and Sands stopped and as one, turned to face him.
"It's too easy. I think, perhaps..." Andre's words trailed off.
"A trap?" Sands suggested.
Andre nodded. "We need the boys with the electronic toys to scan this room."
Victoria turned where she stood. Eyes scanning the double staircases, windows the doors on the balconies above. Everything seemed quiet, still. She turned her green eyes to Andre and then Sands. Still nothing . Then she shut them entirely and searched with her mind. She let her thoughts drift, travel to the upper floors, looking for anyone that presented a threat. She had even stopped breathing as she searched.
There was something. She could feel it. Some danger lay here. Her eyes flew open as Andre shouted "Quinn! We need some scanning."
There was the sound of approaching footsteps, and Quinn himself appeared, electronic equipment in both hands.
"Something's wrong here," Andre shrugged as Quinn pinned him with an inquiring stare.
"I feel it, too," Sands agreed.
"And I," Victoria added softly. Now that she'd located the sensation, she felt a sense of creepiness, the same sensation she felt when she read about some young kid belting dynamite to himself and going into Jerusalem to blow himself and several innocent people up with him.
Victoria watched as Quinn pulled out his scanning devices and slowly made a sweep of the floor and walls. Victoria glanced around the entry way carefully as Quinn made his rounds. What was out of place? Then she saw it. Just barely visible above the doorway. Her eyes shot to the windows that flanked the entrance, sunlight gently flooded in through the dust, but it was there to! "Sands," her grip tighten, "the doors and windows are wired!"
All four stepped backwards, even Quinn, who followed Victoria's lead and aimed his devices at the area above the door. "How sweet," he muttered. "That guy is a real jewel." He looked at the other three. "I suggest you go out another way, or wait until we get this deactivated.
The group stepped back through the French doors. Victoria looked to Sands to see what he wanted to do. In a house this big, there were always many way in and out, but now she worried about how many held special surprises.
"How did you get in?" he asked Victoria and Andre.
"This way," she smiled and crooked a finger.
The trio went back into the building, down the hall, and eventually they were passing the area where Sands had last seen Abberline. He looked around as they passed, wondering where the clan leader had disappeared to.
Down steps, over many dead bodies, and they came into the cellar area, past more dead vampires, and through the secret door. This lead eventually to the tunnel entrance where the two thralls stood still waiting for them, as they had been instructed.
Jackson and Klein seemed genuinely pleased that their masters had returned. "Welcome back Miss. Dupre," Jackson purred. Andre leaned closer to Sands. "Watch that one," he warned.
Sands frowned, his nose scrunching up as if he smelled something bad, then he walked away, following the footsteps the group had left when they descended upon the tunnel less than an hour earlier.
Victoria nodded pleasantly to Jackson and opened her mind to him. "Jackson, you should take your cues from Klein."
His blue eyes sparkled. "Why? Doesn't my attentive nature please you?" he answered silently.
Distracted by his question she did not notice Andre whispering to Sands. She shut her mind to Jackson, bothered by his forward demeanor. She frowned and Jackson lowered his gaze as Sand brushed past him, he pulled on Victoria's hand.
Sands headed out through the tunnel. His thrall quickly caught up. "Sir, let me make sure the way is still clear." Sands nodded and then turned his face back toward Victoria. The light from the cellar outlined her figure. "How long before we reach the end?" he questioned.
"It's a full mile, maybe a mile and a half."
He sighed, expressing his fatigue. "Let's get out of here."
Andre walked up beside his friend and put a friendly arm around him, steering him toward the tunnel exit. He faced Sands as they began to walk, speaking in soft low tones. Victoria studied them for a moment as she started after them more slowly. It didn't take her long to realize Andre was worried about Sands and his arm was there to prevent Sands from stumbling.
Biting her lip, she moved up to Sands' other side and slid her arm around his slim hips, her eyes looking past him to Andre. "We're the three amigos, aren't we?" she asked cheerfully.
"Oh, so you speak Spanish?" Andre asked casually. "Where did you learn that?"
As the two spoke lightly, Sands walked with his head down, his hair falling forward hiding his features from them. Victoria wondered if he knew what she and Andre were doing.
"What?" Victoria asked Andre. She had missed what he said.
"I was asking where you learned to speak Spanish," he responded. "Your accent sounds distinctly Spanish, not South American or Cuban."
She smiled. "I spent a little time in Madrid." Victoria reached up to brush some loose strands of hair from her eyes. "Jacob kept me moving from place to place, and I did so like Spain. So I lived in Madrid , Valencia, Barcelona. Your country is very beautiful."
"We met in Spain," Sands said softly.
"Yes," Andre agreed. "We should have been enemies, and I should have hated you, my brother. But you were so very charming. And you did arrange for me to kill someone who definitely deserved to die."
"I remember." Sands turned his head to glance at Andre. "A less kind person would have said I manipulated them."
Andre's full lips quirked up into a smile. "If I remember correctly, I did say something like that at the time. But, you did me a favor. I did you a favor. It all turned out splendidly." His dark eyes flashed to Victoria. "And, Victoria, you love Spain, as well. Perhaps the three of us should go there."
She looked into Andre's eyes, they were dark and warm. Then her gaze drifted to Sands. "Perhaps when we are feeling better."
"If you're referring to me," Sands spoke up, turning to smile in her direction, "I'm actually feeling just fine. Except where the silver was. The rest of me is peachy." He gave her a mysterious smile, before hiding his face beneath his falling hair again.
Victoria once again smiled, a great weight was lifted from her. "Then again, " she paused and smirked playfully shaking her head for Andre's amusement, "there are many places I would like to go now than I am no longer being hunted."
"Such as?" Andre asked.
She squeezed Sands gently, and looked towards Andre have you ever been to New Orleans?"
Sands turned his head toward her, throwing his hair out of his eyes. "There's no reason you can't go anywhere your heart desires now. You know that, right?" His tongue darted out and wet his lips before he added. "I'd kill anyone who tried to control you. So would Andre. Right, Andre?"
"Right." Andre nodded solemnly. A surge of happiness filled her. "Wonderful, then you shall take us to Spain, I shall take us to see my home", and then she turned her green eyes onto Sands. "Where will you take us sugar? Her accents heavily coating her words.
"I shall take you to England, of course." Sands suddenly spoke with an aristocratic British accent.
"He's a Brit," Andre said, as if explaining things to Victoria. "Tea lover."
"Greatest lovers in the world," Sands threw in.
"I would like that very much," she said quietly. "And I would like you to take me dancing again," she added with a smile in her voice as she spoke.
As they neared the end of the tunnel, the party fell silent, as if some unknown danger lay ahead in the faint afternoon glow.
"Send Klein and Jackson out first," Sands said softly to Andre. "I don't trust Viscalli. Only one booby trap... Not his style."
Andre nodded to the thralls who quickly exited the tunnel into the forest. Victoria closed her eyes and opened her mind, searching for his now familiar presences. Viscalli was still around, but where he was, she could not be sure.
"Where are the vehicles?" Sands asked, leaning back against the wall of the tunnel. "Anyone have a cigarette?"
Victoria looked to Andre. That was a very good question. She really had not been pay attention earlier when they arrived.
"I still do not smoke," Andre said in a scolding voice. "The cars are down around this area of the wood, out of site of the house." He gestured out the tunnel entrance.
"Oh, well that explains everything," Sands said sarcastically.
"Sands!" Victoria chided. "Be nice." The trio stepped to the edge of the tunnel, they could see the thralls scanning the edge of the treeline. "Is everything alright?" she called to Jackson.
Andre frowned, ducked down. Simultaneously, Sands pulled Victoria down with him to the tunnel's floor as gunfire erupted from within the trees.
"What's going on?!" Victoria shouted as she reached for her weapon. "More Viscalli! Haven't we killed enough of them for one day?"
"You two stay put," Andre said, rising to a half-crouch and darting out of the cave.
"Like that's going to happen," Sands muttered, flicking the safety on his gun off.
Victoria held on to Sands tightly. "Please, your hurt. I'll go."
"Hurt never stopped me before." He smiled wickedly, leaned over to kiss her quickly on the lips, then got to his feet and dashed out after Andre.