Chapter 53

The small streets outside the station leading into the Kita district were quiet. Ki looks around and explains, 'It is likely the people here have been warned not to go out after dark.'

'Not that it would help them,' I reply, walking down the street, listening to the wind whistling through the buildings and trees.

Ki had been waiting at our door, explaining his delay in arriving. His cousin had left as soon as Ki arrived and it had been a blessing. Never had I loved the fact that a fowl man had been dismissed by an albino with strong ties to the police of the vampire. When he had knocked on our door it had been a stark reminder that even Ki could be working with the Silent Phantasma.

It was hard to think that, but I had to make sure even moreso that nothing slipped. Ki and Nick's longer legs eat up the ground and before long they are ahead, the pale blue stripped tape leading into the area of Kita where a majority of the missing had been from. My eyes glance between the two men. Ki was of the Won caln, though a Night Hunter he still could have possible ties to the Phantasma, but then as my eyes turn to Nick. I am reminded of what the girl said in Oxford. It was hard to trust anyone now more than ever. There was no safe place for me and I wasn't exactly myself anymore, or what I had been just six months previously.

The area was so quiet as we step past the tape and Ki explains, 'I've gathered from news articles that many people have decided to leave the area until the disppearances have been solved. So we shouldn't be disturbed.'

Nick's guards had remained at the station per his request, but I could tell they were curious as to why we were in a small district by the river far from dowbtob Tokyo. I had a feeling after what we had discussed Nick had decided to heed my advice and keep only the few that needed to know in the know.

My eyes slowly sharpen, the hum in my ear turning crisp and sharp, my muscles loosening as I senses expand. Nick murmurs, 'I don't sense any life here. No humans at all. At least not since we left the station platform.'

'Same,' Ki says, his eyes flashing like a cats when light reflects of their lenses.

However for me, I did sense something and find myself turning down an alley, as if drawn by darkness. Ki calls out in curiousity, 'Where are you going?'

'Can't you smell it?'

Neither answered, until Nick says, 'Stale air?'

'No human scents that's for sure, more clean air than stale,' Ki says as if trying to define what they smelled.

I stop and look down as I say, 'No, that's not what I'm talking about. There is a smell of... decay.'

Ki and Nick come up beside me and look dow at the drain. Finally Nick lets out a frustrated sigh, 'Its a storm drain, you probably just smell human waste.'

'No, its different,' I murmur as I grab the grate.

Without even thinking, I pull the grate from the concrete. The grate flies from my hand into the air above us and comes down twenty feet away with a clang that reverberated against the walls of the alley. Dust flew everywhere and I could feel the stunned silence from two very powerful Purebloods to either side of me. But without saying anything I jump down into the darkened hole.

It wasn't a long jump, maybe twenty feet and I hit solid ground. Slowly I straighten up and hear Ki ask from above, 'Anything?'

The smell of death was much stronger and I blink away tears as I say, 'There is something down here to be sure.'

Before the last word was out, Ki and Nick and jumped down into the hole with me, one after the other. Nick coughs and Ki says covering his nose and mouth, 'Ugh, what is that smell?!'

'I don't know.'

'It smells like a mix of human and beast,' Nick says, blinking away at the fumes in this closed space. With so little light, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the deep darkness.

With that, I walk on ahead. My heartbeat started to get faster the further ahead and slightly downward path we went. The smell seemed to disappear, but I knew we had simply acclimated to it. That's when I stop. Nick and Ki walk ahead a few steps and then stop. Nick looks back at me, eyes narrowing and asks, 'What is it?'

'Do... do you hear that?'

Nick and Ki both straighten up, heads tilted slightly as if trying to pick up on something. But Nick shrugs and Ki shakes his head. It was faint, but it was the sound of a hum, like electricity through a highwire, or bees in their hive.

Every fiber in my being said to turn and return post haste to civilization. But that deep sense of curiosity pushes me forward. My heart beat took up a higher tempo, and my pupils became sharper, more feline as we move ahead. Ki and Nick seemed undisturbed, so why did I.

Suddenly my footing falls away and I yelp until I hit dirt. Ki chuckles and says, 'Seems this area is under construction.'

Looking up and around I notice that this tunnel us now larger, the concrete that made up the drainage now gone. I look into the bowels of the tunnel and murmur, 'Where are the tools? The concrete mixers to finish the work?'

My mouth was going dry as Nick says, 'If they are still excavating the area, then there wouldn't be any concrete work yet.'

'Then why isn't this area cordoned off?'

Now they were both sobered as I walked ahead on the not so well excavated earth. The sound of dripping water and our footsteps the only sounds I could make out.

The humming noise was getting louder and I felt shivers running down my spine. Something dangerous was down here. I could tell that both Nick and Ki had gone a little stiffer, more alert. I whisper, 'Please tell me you can hear what I can?'

'I just hear water dripping ahead, and our breathing,'Nick murmurs back. Ki nods an affirmative to Nick's response.

The humming was now almost a steady static in my ears. It was to the point I almost wanted to clamp my hands over my ears as we walked. Nick asks softly, 'Are you alright?'

'Fine'

Ki replies to that, 'Your shaking.'

I look up at him, his eyes had also gone to slits and I whisper, 'Something is down here. Can't you sense it?'

'I only sense our presence, nothing else,'Nick says and my eyes dart to his, as he continues, 'Calm down, its simply eerie down here. That's all.'

The static in my head suddenly stops and my eyes round as I see something move just above and to the left of Nick's shoulder. A scream burst from my lips as the growling cry of another fills the open cavernous tunnel.