Chapter 16
Sarah made good time to the cleft, arriving a bare hour after she had set off from the hotel. Before entering, however, she sat in the twilight and ate the food which Herr Braun had prepared.
Having eaten., she rose, and after checking that there was no-one nearby, withdrew her stake and squeezed into the cleft.
She advanced quietly through the sudden darkness, her footsteps the only sound. But it turned out not to be her hearing that saved her, as she sensed in some indescribable way, rather than heard the figure advancing behind her.
She whirled, and was almost surprised to feel her stake impaling the vampire. He turned to dust, causing Sarah to cough. But once she had recovered, she set off again down the dark tunnel.
How long she walked for, she could not tell, as time measurement had become difficult once she had entered the tunnels. The darkness pressed down upon her, but she was able to find her way, albeit carefully, because of her enhanced eyesight. Eventually, she came to the crossroads. It was immediately obvious which way Cornelia had gone as apple peelings littered the ground. Sarah knew that someone from the school would eventually realise where Cornelia had gone. But, not knowing how many vampires there would be, she made a decision to pick up the apple peelings, hoping to delay any rescue party.
Suddenly her quick ears caught the sound of footsteps behind her, but before she was able to turn round, something landed on her back. The vampire tumbled over Sarah, having jumped too hard, knocking his head on the ground. Getting unsteadily to his feet, he blocked the passageway.
Sarah stared at him for a moment, then attempted to pass to the vampire's left, but at the last second she span, slamming her stake deep into his chest. He looked down in shock at the stake before turning into dust.
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In the cave, Spike and Drusilla watched from their alcove as Cornelia woke up, terrified, and seemingly alone with Bernhardt. Although, had she known what lurked in the shadows of the caves, she would have been more terrified than she had ever imagined.
As Bernhardt sang, Spike turned to Drusilla. "It should be getting dark soon, love. We'll have to be making a move - get out of this dump."
But Drusilla was not listening. She stood, her eyes dreamy. "One and two are floating on the wind… she comes."
Spike looked at her, a puzzled look on his face. "The stars tell you again, Princess?"
Drusilla gave him a look as if he were an idiot child. "Now, William… don't be silly… the stars don't know things like that. It was the voices in the mountains."
Spike sighed. "Whatever you say, love." But, he reflected, he could almost hear strange voices in the echoes which the caves threw back in response to Bernhardt's singing, so who knew what Drusilla was hearing.
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As the patch of light, which Sarah rightly guessed marked the end of the tunnel, slowly grew, Sarah felt a lump forming in her throat. All she could think of was that William the Bloody might be in the caves, a vampire who had already killed one Slayer, and who in all probability had no qualms about killing another.
So deep were her thoughts, she did not notice the third, and largest, vampire moving to block her way until the very last second. Instinctively she attacked, the stake plunging towards his chest, but with a flick of his wrist the vampire knocked the stake from Sarah's hand.
As she watched the stake rolling down the slope away from her, Sarah pulled herself down into a crouch. At the last second, instead of jumping upwards, she fell forward to her hands and ran straight at the vampire, knocking him off his feet. Retrieving her stake, she whirled and immediately attacked. But again the vampire foiled her, grabbing her wrist.
As he backed her against the wall, ready to bite, she sagged and tensed her legs.
"I have no breath." The vampire scoffed. "Your trick will not work."
Sarah smiled as she jumped upwards, her knees pushing the vampires diaphragm upwards, before her feet landed on the wall. Pushing hard, she rammed the vampire against the other wall of the tunnel, the unexpected move causing him to lose his grip on her wrist, and the stake was buried in his chest before he realised what had happened.