House of Pain

Chapter 7: Hungry Pain

I reached and grasped the cold handle. It's simple. Just twist it and open the door. As simple as this task was I didn't want to open the door. Call me a chicken, but I was nervous about what was on the other side of this door. Whoever kept banging must really want out. Can't say I blame him or her. I wiggled my fingers again. I raised my hand with the splat gun and pointed directly at the door. I looked at Jenks and gave him a nod that I was ready. I turned the handle and it stayed in place. Just great. I tried the handle again but it didn't twist open. This could always be a good thing, right? I let go and I'll admit I felt slightly relieved while I took a deep breath.

"It's locked, Jenks." I said feeling breathless.

"I see that."

I did have to open the door. Regardless of what could be on that side of the door I had to help it. Please don't let it be a hungry vampire. I began to search my pockets for any pins but of course I had none since I wasn't expecting to open any locks.

"Move over Rache. I got this."

Jenks flew in front of the handle and stuck his sword in the keyhole. He began to maneuver it with such expertise. After a few twists and turns I heard the latch click open. Jenks flew out of the way to let me open the door. Before I could reach the handle the door was slammed wide open. In this poor light I couldn't see what came out at me. I got the wind knocked out of me as it tackled me into the wet ground. Yuck! Not only was I royally pissed at getting wet in this filthy water but I was angry at my attacker who I was not going to let it kill me. Too bad my splat gun flew out of my hand as I had fallen to the ground.

In all this confusion I was happy that I did not panic. Instead like I had practiced in my martial arts training with Ivy I pushed up with my hands and lifted one foot to throw it behind me. I was surprised at how easy that was. I almost expected it to give me more of a fight. Still, I was not going to take any chances so I rolled out of its reach and stood up quickly. I saw the splat gun by my leg and got it in one quick motion. I pointed the gun and was ready to press the trigger.

"We've found the King of the elves." Jenks said.

"Huh? Trent?" I said as I let go of the trigger.

The person in the floor that Jenks said was Trent scrambled on all fours towards me. He stopped shortly as he seemed to be hurt. The sudden twitch of pain did not stop him for long as he made his way towards me. He stood up on his knees and grabbed me around my waist. I was too shocked to push him off. I have to admit I felt bad. I brushed his silvery blond hair back to try to console him. Through the dirty grime I could see a really bad bump on his forehead near his hairline. It was a large wound that had bruised; the good thing is that it had stopped bleeding. Other than that there were other minor cuts and bruises. This was good because if he were as hurt as Quen it would have made it harder to get him out of here. His clothes were soaked from the dirty sewer and there were minor rips and tears. Gently I pushed his hands away and knelt down before him. I needed to calm him down so we could get out of this filth.

"Trent, listen to me. Everything will be all right. You have to get up so we can get out of this place. Understand?"

He nodded.

"Good, come on." I stood up and took his hand to get him on his feet. He was not going to make it easy because he didn't budge from his position. The only thing he did was hold on to my hand a wee too tight. And here I was thinking that he was too weak.

"Thank you Rachel. I knew you would come and help me."

"We must leave now. Trent, come on. Get up."

This time he stood up with my help. Once on his two feet I lead the way out of this tunnel. I should have realized that he was too hurt to walk on his own. I glanced behind me and noticed that Trent was in fact limping as he slowly made his way. If we were to get out of this place as soon as possible I needed to go back and help him move along faster. The faster we got out of this place the better. Besides, I didn't want to get caught in this place. As far as I could see there was nowhere to hide. Unless I considered the cells Trent had been held but of course that was a death trap. I walked towards Trent; the scared Trent of a few seconds ago was gone. As he limped he hid his pain with a mask of arrogance.

"Let me help. Put your arm around me."

"I can walk on my own."

"Trent, unless you want to attract attention from the hungry vampires then be my guest. But I promised Quen I would get your sorry butt out of here. Now let me help you."

"Quen sent you here?"

I don't know why, but I wondered if I had broken something in his heart. There was a hint of pain in those forest green eyes. And it wasn't from the injuries he had.

"Yes…Quen arrived badly injured in my front door. I promised him I would help you."

He nodded. His face held that arrogant mask once again. "Fine, Morgan. Help me out I want to get out of this stench as soon as possible."

I couldn't help it but feel a bit of anger towards him. How could he not appreciate what I was doing? I was putting myself in the line of danger. Yet I couldn't blame him because I had hurt him. He thought I had come on my own to help him not that it was a request from Quen. He stood there as I went to his side and held him around his slim waist. Hesitantly he wrapped his arm around me. With my help, he was able to move at a quicker pace. I glanced up and there in front of me was Jenks flying backwards with a huge grin on his face. That pixie man was enjoying my bickering with Trent.

We left those jail cells that Trent had been a prisoner and were now stepping into the circular room with all the four tunnels. We stopped in the middle and I glanced at the tunnel Ivy and David had taken. There was no sound to let us know if they were making their way back. I wanted to get out of this place yet I couldn't continue without knowing if they had found the missing Weres and knowing that they were fine.

"Should we wait for them or should we continue out of here? What do you think Jenks?"

"Who cares what he thinks?" Trent snapped.

"I care. I could let go of you here and let you get lost."

"I would rather leave him here in this stench," Jenks said in a heated tone. Trent looked up at the pixie then at me in bewilderment. He couldn't believe that I would seriously agree with Jenks. "But…I would rather get out of this stinker."

"Then let's keep moving."

Trent didn't say a word and continued to walk with my help. Before we entered the tunnel I stopped. Both Trent and Jenks looked at me. Jenks realized what had made me stop when he took out his sword at the sound of splashing water. It sounded like it was coming from both tunnels. I took a few steps back. Jenks had flown back and was now hovering next to me. The splashing was getting louder as they got closer. Hisses were heard at random from either tunnel. This is definitely not good.

"Back up!" I said in a loud whisper.

We walked back until we were in the middle of the room. I let go of Trent and stood in front of him him. Jenks remained by my side. I took the splat gun and pointed at either tunnel while we waited. Good thing I had energy spindled within me because if we were outnumbered we will definitely need something to use against them. I tried to push the fear I felt as the creatures emerged from the tunnel. I fired twice, the first time I missed. The second time I got one and it fell into the dirty water. A few more continued to exit both tunnels. None attacked, even when one of them had fallen down. What they did instead was to shrill in such a high pitch. They stopped running in circles and were now standing in place around us. The vampires stood there with menacing eyes and hissing in anger.

These were not your drop dead gorgeous type vampires. Instead they were hideous to look at. They were frail looking; their bones were visible under that translucent pale skin. They were all men with torn shirts and jeans. Their movements were all alike in an animalistic stance; they were hunched, bared their sharp yellow fangs, and clenched their bony fists. I could see how Quen got all those scratches as I looked at their long claw like nails. My heart began to beat faster. I had to calm down. One thing I learned from living with Ivy is that vampires can smell fear. It's such an aphrodisiac that could cause these apparently hungry vampires to go into frenzy. I took deep breaths to keep my pulse down. These vampires were most likely the same ones Quen had been talking about.

"What are we going to do?" Trent whispered behind my back.

Whispering was not going to prevent them from listening on us. Of course I didn't tell that to Trent. He was too close that I had felt his hot breath on the back of my neck. I know this is not the time or place but for some reason feeling him this close to me got me thinking about that night. I tried to push it out of my subconscious since it would not help me right now. The only thing it was causing was getting me to blush.

"Don't tempt them, Rache." Jenks said from my shoulder.

"What are you talking about?" I whispered back.

"You're like a shiny red tomato and guess what? These creeps look very hungry."

I couldn't argue with Jenks because he was right. Besides the vampires surrounding us are our top priority. I hate this yet I always have a knack to get myself in these types of situations. No time to dwell in that. Right now I had to think of a way to get us all out alive.

To be continued…