© Michael Scott
The door swung open as Josh and Joan approached the steps leading up to it. Two large cats sat on either side of it, their eyes glowing in the eerie mist. Each had a white spot on its chest, and they watched as they came closer. Before they reached the top of the stairs, a man appeared in the doorway.
In one hand, he held a large handgun that was common in this era. In the other hand, he held an ancient looking long sword that shone in the low light. A short sword was strapped to his back, and a dagger hung from each of his hips. Two other men appeared behind him carrying similar weaponry.
The first man spoke. "Your names."
Josh spoke first. "Marethyu, and Joan of Arc."
"Why are you here?" the man to his right asked in the exact same voice.
"We are looking for my husband, le Comte de Saint-Germain," Joan replied.
"And why would he be here?" the third man asked, also in the same voice.
Josh was careful when answering. "We have reason to believe that your mistress, the goddess Nyx, has taken him due to a disagreement they had previously. We only request an audience with the goddess Nyx, and Germain's safe return."
One of the men left, probably taking their request to Nyx. The remaining two said nothing while they waited. The cat síth watched Josh and Joan with narrowed eyes, examining them. Both immortals could hear the scratch of claws from behind them and knew there were more cat síth behind them, but neither turned nor said a word.
After minutes of tense silence, the third man returned. He said nothing, but beckoned with one hand and then turned back into the mansion, followed by the other two men. Josh and Joan trailed behind wordlessly, entering into the dark mansion. The two cat síth that stood guard on either side of the door followed behind them.
Josh only noticed how quiet it was when the door shut behind them. It blocked out the faint noise of the ocean behind them so that the only noise was their footsteps and the clicking of the claws of the cat síth.
Joan took note of the Elder's mansion. The floors were made of a black tile; the walls covered in a black wood paneling. Greek artifacts lined the long hall that they were walking down, many of them broken in places. Several of the vases and bowls depicted Nyx herself; Nyx going to battle with her steeds, her power falling over the land. Others showed Erebos or her children, and fewer still told her story.
They took several turns down several more hallways similar to the first. As they ventured farther into the mansion, more closed doors began to appear. Neither Josh nor Joan could help but wonder what terrible things could be behind those doors, and neither wanted to find out. Several shook as they walked past, behind others they could hear quiet moans or soft pleas. As they approached one door, it was rammed so hard that everything in the hall shook. One of the men hit it with the butt of his sword and it quieted.
After several more turns, they found themselves in a large and cavernous hall. There were three entrances to the hall, and the two that they were not standing in were guarded by two cat síth. The two that accompanied them took their place by the third entrance.
"Wait here." The three men then left the hall, each through a different door. Joan and Josh looked around the hall. The walls were hung with large black drapes and tapestries, and a strange mist seemed to hang in the air near the ceiling. On the wall opposite them, the only wall without a door, a large and ornate black throne stood vacant.
Josh ventured forward a step and paused. When the giant cat síth didn't attack him, he moved towards the center of the room to look at the throne more closely. A quiet breath of air passed through the room causing both immortals to freeze where they stood. The cat síth did nothing but stare at them, but the room began to grow colder, as if night were falling in the hall.
Josh and Joan exchanged furtive glances as they awaited the arrival of the goddess of night.
The cat síth approached from both ends of the beach. One jumped down from the shadows of a large rock while two others stalked towards them. Sophie grinned at Virginia. "I win," she said, laughing softly. Virginia shook her head but smiled.
These cat síth were easily five feet tall on all fours. Their large eyes glowed softly and their long fangs protruded from their upper lip menacingly. Sophie decided that they wouldn't have been so scary if they weren't prowling towards them, or if they weren't quite as big.
As they walked, their massive claws sunk into the damp sand and left large holes in their path, holes that were the exact same as those they saw earlier. The cat síth tried to circle the two immortals, but Sophie and Virginia had backed up to the cliff face to protect their backs. They surrounded them and paced back and forth, calculating their odds.
Sophie and Virginia calculated as well, examining how they walked, how their claws moved, and how best to attack and get out alive. When both women reached the same conclusion, they pounced.
The cat síth hesitated momentarily, but came back from the surprise quickly. Sophie attacked with both knives swinging, her aura forming around her into shining silver armor. She plunged one of her knives deep into one of the cat's shoulders. It yowled and swung at her with a massive paw, but she dodged it and went in for another attack.
Virginia, on the other hand, immediately went for her flute and started playing a tune. The cat síth closest to her began to yowl in pain, while the other shook its head as if a fly were buzzing around it, irritating it.
Sophie backed away from the cat síth to return to Virginia's side, where she sheathed her weapons and started twisting her hands in the air. Behind the cat síth, the ocean began to rise up into a massive wave. Virginia smiled at Sophie while continuing to play her flute, causing each of the cat síth irritation in some way. Sophie allowed the wave to build power, and just as she dropped her hands to let it crash onto the cat síth, something pounced on her from behind.
Salt water surrounded her, and something was digging into her shoulder. She turned in the water and shot a jet or water at the cat that had just dug its claws into her. The other three were already gone, taken by the undertow. Sophie willed the water to retreat, and she pushed towards the beach. She broke the surface coughing, and climbed onto the shore.
Virginia stood in exactly the same spot, her flute still in her hands, completely dry.
"How'd that work out for you?" she asked, walking towards her to help her up.
"Would've been perfect if that fourth one hadn't appeared out of no where… where did it come from anyway?" Sophie asked, gingerly moving her shoulder to test the wound.
Virginia gestured to the large scratches on the cliff face. "It looks like it climbed down from a higher point. How's your shoulder?" she asked, moving to examine it.
The pain was great, but she could still move it. Virginia tore a strip of fabric from the bottom of her plaid shirt and wrapped it around Sophie's shoulder to avoid blood loss.
"Well, you'll live," Virginia said, grinning at Sophie.
"Good to know," she replied, laughing. "That flute of yours is pretty handy, thanks for having my back there."
"Same to you, now let's get going. Who knows where the others are by now."
The crack in the cliff led to a narrow passageway that was completely smooth on every surface. The stones were dark, possibly because of Nyx, and the only light that entered the passage was from the small crevice. Their bodies blocked most of the light, and it was pitch black five feet from where they stood.
"What do your vampire eyes see, Scathach?" Billy asked, grinning softly.
"Shut up," Scatty replied, moving on ahead. "You do know how to use that flashlight, correct? Or is it just for decoration?"
"I'm sorry, I was just told to shut up and can't answer you," Billy replied, but turned the flashlight on with one look from Scathach.
The passage went on in a dead straight line for several minutes, then turned ninety degrees to the right and continued in a straight line for several more minutes. Neither immortal said anything as to avoid disturbing any lurking hazards that might like to remain undisturbed.
They walked on for ten more minutes until they came to a dead end. "Well, this is uninteresting," Billy said, grinning again.
Scathach took the flashlight and shone it all around. "There has to be something, this passage is to precise to be a decoy. A decoy would have multiple passages, and would probably be more roughly hewn. This is just… perfection." She smiled at Billy and then looked up at where she was shining the flashlight. There, barely reflecting the light, was a small ladder, a few feet above their heads.
"Brilliant. You're brilliant, but how do you plan on getting up there?" Billy asked.
She handed him the flashlight, then gestured for him to bend his legs. She launched herself off of his knee and landed lightly on the first rung of the ladder. Getting a firm hold, she reached a hand down to help him up. He managed to pull himself up with upper body strength alone, as the wall provided no notches for him to place his feet.
Scatty climbed until she reached the ceiling, then requested the flashlight from Billy again. He helped her to remain balanced while she searched the ceiling for a hatch or door. Finally her fingers found a small groove and she followed it until she found a handle.
"Let's see what trouble we can get into," she said, grinning, and she opened the hatch. Carefully, she poked her head through, looked around, and then swore.
A/N: Hello lovelies! Hope you enjoy this chapter; it was pretty fun to write! I hope you enjoy what little is left of the summer holidays, and have a good start to the rest of the year!
~nerdy