Chapter 101
Carlisle
As we approached a huge derelict warehouse I could feel my body tense especially as both Emmett and Peter were wearing huge grins. Stopping by the entrance we could hear music inside and smell, well I couldn't pin it down, there were just too many smells to work each one out. What the hell were they playing at?
"Right grooms, front and center."
Jay and Jasper moved to stand apart from the rest of us looking around warily as Peter continued.
"For your last night of freedom with the guys we thought you should have fun and to that end we have worked extremely hard. So, this is your test of resilience and strength. If you can survive in there for an hour unmolested in any way and find your way back out you will have proved your worth and will be welcomed into the fraternity of the matrimonially chained."
"And if we don't?"
"Then my dear friend you are what they called fucked. Now get ready and smile, this is going to be fun."
Saying this he turned to Hunter, Edward, and I,
"For us at least. Emmett please hand our victims, I mean friends, the key."
Jasper
I held out my hand and Emmett dropped an electronic key card into it.
"Have fun."
I looked at Jay and we stepped up to the door which on closer inspection turned out to be reinforced steel camouflaged to look like wood and beside it was an old wooden box that disguised a card reader. I slid the card through and there was a dull click as the lock disengaged and the door opened very slightly letting out smoke and the sound of loud music. Recognizing Motorhead's Love me Forever I couldn't help a smile and pushed the door open further until we could enter. The inside was filled with thick smoke glowing red and purple and the sound of the music which was loud enough to make a humans ears bleed!
Looking back I raised an eyebrow in question at Peter who merely grinned and waved a hand,
"All you have to do is get yourselves out, piece of cake but no breaking anything."
Jay followed me in and the door slammed shut behind us, I guess we could have just broken down the door and walked back out but that wouldn't be in the spirit of the occasion. Ahead visibility was almost nil and I felt a wall there so we couldn't go straight ahead.
Jay looked at me feeling ahead of himself and signaling he'd found a pathway at the same time I found one to the left of my position. Should we split up or stay together? He made the decision by raising a hand in farewell and taking his path so I stepped into what felt like a narrow passageway that seemed to stretch ahead of me.
Carlisle
Once the others were locked inside the warehouse Peter motioned for us to follow him into a small shack attached to the north corner of it. Inside Hunter whistled as we saw a bank of monitors attached to the wall and speakers through which the dreadful music was coming but thankfully much quieter than it had been when the door opened. The monitors were blank but then Emmett hit a switch and they came to life showing the interior of the warehouse which it appeared had been turned into a maze with myriad walls in an intricate pattern.
On one of the other walls was a diagram of the maze where all corridors led eventually to the center which appeared to be a large chamber for want of a better word.
"So what's in the center? Not rabid dogs or a nuclear weapon I take it?"
Peter shook his head a little ruefully,
"We did think about it Hunter but then decided why not come up with something pleasant instead. Give them a final fling before the old manacles of matrimony snap shut."
"Pleasant? I didn't know that word was in your vocabulary Peter. Its certainly out of character."
"Hey Carlisle, I can be spontaneous and kind hearted when I feel like it. I just don't feel like it very often that's all."
"So, the surprise in the center is?"
"Oh I think we'll keep that as a surprise until our friends find it, or it finds them."
Jay
It was disconcerting to be both deaf and blind as a vampire and there were so many smells in here I couldn't separate them out. Of course this could only mean one thing, The Major and I were not alone in the maze. The big question was what the hell was in here with us? With Peter it could be anything from a pissed grizzly bear to a man trap and everything in between but if he got us in serious trouble with the girls he was gonna wish he'd been the one stuck in this place, I made a promise to myself on that score. I tried calling to The Major but the music was just too loud and when I turned around there was only a wall behind me. Fuck, even the walls didn't stay still in this place!
Jasper
I stood listening for a few minutes but there was nothing but Iron Maiden and then I knelt down to feel the floor. It was smooth concrete, too smooth to be a part of the original building and then my fingers encountered channels going at right angles. Now what were they for? Guides of some kind? I crawled along my fingers trailing in one until suddenly something moved forcing them out. The walls! They had the walls on rollers and they changed the route remotely which meant we were being herded somewhere, the question was where and to what end?
Knowing the only way out was to play Peter's game I stood up, glad I didn't need to breath or I would have been coughing and choking which made one thing clear, whatever was in here with us wasn't alive, not human or animal so…...either vampire or…...inanimate. Not that I found this very helpful but I allowed myself to be manoeuvred to wherever Peter and Em wanted me wondering if I would meet Jay there and if the guys had some way of observing us. With the smoke and music I doubted it but they were resourceful so who knew?
I seemed to be walking for some time which meant the walls kept moving because the warehouse hadn't been that large and I was getting heartily sick of the music, not so much the volume, more the choice of artist! Then suddenly I felt something brush my cheek and turned snatching in the direction it had approached from but I could feel nothing, then again, this time at my ankle and when I bent down I found the lace of my boot gone. The speed meant a vampire but who and why steal a boot lace? It was very odd.
Jay
Either this was a fucking alternate dimension or someone was playing games with my perception because I felt as if I'd walked a mile and there was no way the warehouse was that big even if I walked all round the edge. Then I became aware I was being hunted but not any kind of a stalker I'd ever heard of. Every time there was a brush against me I found something missing, my watch, my belt, a shoelace, were we stuck in here with a kleptomaniac? Suddenly I felt more movement against me, a body, someone else was in here and I didn't think it was The Major because I felt a sharp scraping against my back and my shirt flapped across my shoulders split down the center seam!
I whirled round but I couldn't see a thing in this smoke and as for hearing anything….if I never heard music again it would be too soon, it was deafeningly loud. A sudden pressure down my spine had me dropping to the floor in an attempt to grab a foot or leg but I wasn't quick enough, my attacker had disappeared with my ruined shirt, which meant my attacker was vampire. My senses ramped into overdrive but my senses were useless in here so I moved more quickly but I had no idea what direction I was moving in, only that the corridor I had been walking down had vanished at my back.