Hey, everyone. It's been the better part of a year and a half since I last updated this story. Sorry for the delay. Army life, and then army+college life has been keeping me busy. No, I don't own the Nick Gautier Chronicles, nor have I read the latest book. Sorry for the delay.
Now… On to Chapter 3.
Nick had long since lost track of how long he'd been in this empty room. He knew it was well past lunch, and, judging from the noises his stomach was making, might even be well past dinner. Nick looked down at his bloodied knuckles and flexed his finger, wincing as sharp stabs of pain lanced across his hands. Freeing himself from the ropes had been a simple matter of pulling and twisting until they were loose, but he'd be damned if the things hadn't skinned his hands in the process.
Nick cautiously creeps towards the door, walking as stealthily as he could across the floor, with a memory of Caleb and Kody attempting to drill it into his head and body.
"Come on, Nick," Caleb had growled at him for the fourteenth time that day. "It's like you're not even trying to conceal yourself. The Malachai is supposed to be the ultimate being of the Darkness, but the way you're blundering about, you'd think you were a drunken elephant!"
Nick turned to glare at his friend, a retort already hot on his tongue when his girlfriend, Kody, intervened.
"Lighten up, Caleb, he's already much better than he was when he started. A normal human wouldn't even hear his approach."
Caleb turned to snarl at the pink clad female. "Exactly! What we're training him to be able to sneak around, or up to, aren't human! They're demons!" He spun back around to face Nick, his normally brown eyes flashing yellow. "Now start over!"
Nick shakes his head and sighs, wishing that either Caleb or Kody were here right now. Especially Kody. If his green eyed goddess (figuratively) were here, things would be a lot more interesting…
Nick shook his head, clearing away those tantalizing images.
Placing his hand on the door knob, he slowly turns it. As it started rotating, he felt a surge of hope, that quickly dissipated into disappointment as the doorknob made a full turn without opening. Growling, Nick kicked the door, then cursed heavily at the pain in his toe.
"What now?" He asked out loud, then winced. "Great, now I'm talking to myself… If my mother over heard me she'd…" Nick trailed off at the thought of his mother. Not only might he not see her again, she was in danger if he didn't escape.
Nick moved swiftly to the metal chair he'd been tied too, with the intent of using it to bust down the door if needed.
Upon reaching the chair, he grabbed the back of it and turned to go back to the door, blinking in surprise as he found himself on the floor with a bruised tailbone. Nick frowned and looked at the chair, realizing for the first time that it was bolted to the floor.
"Oh, that's just fantastic!" He growled angrily, looking around the room for something to beat the door down with. He tilted his head as his gaze lit upon the pedestal that was a few feet from the wall opposite the door.
Nick got to his feet and moved to the pedestal, looking at it from all sides, before giving it and experimental shake to see if it was also bolted down. The pedestal shook, causing the weird looking dagger on top of it to rattle. Nick braced himself and pulled up sharply, sending himself and the lighter than expected pedestal crashing to the ground and sending the dagger skittering across the floor into a corner.
Nick got to his feet, and looked at the remains of the pedestal and groaned. The pieces, some of which were bigger than his hand, were obviously not going to help him break down the door. Nick looked around once more, hoping against hope to find another way out of the mess he was in, and found his answer in the form of a square door that was previously hidden under the pedestal.
Nick walked to the door and pulled it open, revealing nothing but inky blackness, with a ladder the led down into it. Nick reached over and picked up a piece of the pedestal, then dropped it into the hole, waiting for it to hit the ground, which it did a few seconds later. Nick felt in his pockets for the small but powerful LED flashlight he'd gotten from Kyrian, his boss, a few days before. He closed his fingers around it with a sigh of relief before starting down the ladder.
Nick paused before he got more than a couple of rungs down before climbing back up to grab the ancient looking dagger and hooking its sheath up to his belt. After making sure it was secure, he started back down the ladder, heading into darkness and, hopefully, freedom.
"Sir, he's heading down the ladder." A security guard said into his radio, his face lit up from the screen that was wired directly to the hidden camera that was in the room the demon spawn had been in.
"As expected." Came the almost unintelligible response. "Open Gate 1. Let's see how he deals with the Creatures of Wrath."
The man shivered as he sounded the affirmative, feeling something akin to pity for the boy that just went into the first level of what the higher ups called The Seven Rings.
Pressing the button that would allow the kid access to the first ring, he sent a silent prayer for the kid to die in the first ring. At least there he would die the fastest.
Alright, guys, and here is chapter 3. Please review it if you can. I'll try and have chapter 4 up by the end of the month.