Текст книги "Bloodbreeders: Lies Beneath London"
Автор книги: Robin Renee Ray
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Текущая страница: 17 (всего у книги 18 страниц)
I could hear several footsteps coming our way and see the light of the torch. Derek held it as high as he could until he saw Luther stepping out. He slowed down and walked the rest of the way, smiling like he had swallowed the yellow canary. It was then that I saw Sydney running up behind him. “You pick them up all over the place, don’t you, Renee?”
“You’d be one of the first to know, huh Derek?” I laughed.
“He wakes,” Fala said, getting our attention.
Tammy was the first to get in front of Bernard. “Where did they go, Bernard?”
“What? What happened?”
“You touch my chest and our wolf friend here almost ate you for supper, that’s what happened. Now, answer her question.”
“Where did who go?”
“Pick him up, Fala. We’ll take him with us. Let’s move.” I gave the order and turned, heading down the hall-like tunnel to find the rest of my people. I could hear Bernard begging to be put down, saying that he could walk on his own. He rambled on about knowing where they had gone and would show us the way if we swore not to harm him or his beloved, Alex. I think Fala must have bumped Bernard’s head on the wall to shut him up, because it became very quiet all of the sudden.
Derek put the torch on the floor and stomped it out, telling us that the others were waiting just around the next turn. It hadn’t been an extremely noticeable slant in the hall, but with the way we walked, it was easy to tell that we had been going down at a slight angle the whole way. The turn opened into a small room with stone benches where the rest were waiting on us.
“You do not know how pleased I am to see that you found the key,” Jacob stood and was smiling so big I could see his fangs in full.
“The key?” I laughed at the look on his face. “We found a few things alright, but I didn’t see any keys.”
“Not you, my fearless leader, Fala.”
He was talking about Bernard and I was dying to see the meaning behind his words. Fala let Bernard slide off of his shoulder by pulling down on his arm, and not too gently. Bernard hit the stone floor with a thud. His scream echoed throughout the room as he grabbed his lower leg, falling back and acting more like a female than any man should. Cates stood up, walked over, yanked him up by the back of his leather top and slung him into the far corner.
“Open it you little weasel or I will break every bone in your body.”
“Then I will let you heal and let this beast of a man do it all over again,” I calmly added, crossing my arms over the shirt that Sydney let me use, with tights covering my legs and nothing else on but the slipper type shoes. My hair was hanging off to one side, half rolled up with hair pins sticking out everywhere. I must have looked like a mad woman.
“They split up. Inara took her men and left. She gave word to ready her ship before we came to the gala, in case things did not go her way.”
“And her sister?” Cates said in a deep growl, leaning down over Bernard, who just glanced at the wall then down at the floor. “Then open it before I get busy.”
“I can go to the coastline and stop the ship. I know the way well,” Monroe offered.
“No, we stay together.” Jacob looked at me and I nodded.
We watched Cates reach down and yank Bernard up a second time. “Okay, I will!” he screamed. “Please don’t hurt me anymore.” He broke down sobbing like a small child. He slid back down to the floor and crawled over to the corner to our right, on hands and knees, crying with his head hanging. He got up on his knees, using the wall to support himself, then pulled back one of the inset stones. “The stairs that go up go to Angelica’s private quarters. The ones that go down will take you to three tunnels. There are many places to get lost past the torture…” he paused.
“Why don’t you just open it and show us the way,” Garvin said, shocking me. “We’ll need a guide.”
“Please, I don’t want to go down there. I beg you, I will do anything.” Bernard grabbed the bottom of Garvin’s jacket and pulled as he begged. Garvin slapped him.
Bernard released his grip on Garvin’s jacket and like a wet puppy, scooted back into the corner and stuck his hand into the opening. A loud clank rang out as chains rubbed together and the wall lifted into the unknown.
Chapter Twenty Nine
“Should I go check on him?”
“No, Tanda, he will be fine. Besides, he cannot go anywhere that we cannot go,” Martin smiled at her.
“Do you think they’re okay? I wish I could have gone with them.”
“You are very fond of this Derek, are you not?”
“I love him very much, Martin. To look at us we resemble the same age, but I am so much older in here.” Tanda touched her chest over her heart. “I believe that does not matter, but I often wonder if it will.”
“Love cares not for any of the same things that we do in life, my child. It can only feel; it has no eyes to see age or color or deeds. Love knows only the heart that it touches and that touches it back. For when the two become one, this thing that beats in here,” Martin laid his hand over Tanda’s, “is finally free.”
“Then why, when I look at him, do I feel more hunger than I ever did in Yvette’s hands? Why do I feel like I am in a cage with no door when he walks into a room and I dare not say how I feel when he touches me?” She blushed, lowering her eyes and moving around the desk.
“He is your first love and the first is always an experience that you will never forget. Cherish every moment that you have with young Derek, love him with all that you have, Tanda. You both have my blessing,” Martin leaned back in the desk chair. “But, I fear if you do not try to stop him from doing this crazed madness that your first may well be your last.”
Tanda walked over to the closed entrance to her entrapment and lightly touched it. “You are a good mentor and teacher,” she turned and looked at him. “But, and I mean no disrespect, are you as good at being a student?”
“No offence taken, young one.”
“Martin, I smell smoke and this stone is very warm.”
Martin rushed to the stone entrance and got down on his hands and knees putting his face close to the floor. “They’ve set my home on fire. We have to get to the tunnels.” ***
A light wind blew a swirl of dust around our feet as the door lifted into the walls above us. Bernard stood with his back to the rising wall with his hands out toward us, begging to be left in the stone hall. He stepped away the higher the wall went up but couldn’t go far with us pressing in, urging him to move back into dark abyss that only he knew and seemed to fear with great prejudice. Two decaying arms shot out with more speed than I had seen from death, grabbed Bernard and pulled him, screaming and kicking into the darkness. Seconds later his screams were cut off abruptly.
“Monroe left, Cates right,” Jacob commanded as he took the middle. The rest of us stepped in behind them and waited for whatever was going to come out of that blackness. What came out was not what I was expecting. Bernard’s crumpled and bloodied body was thrown at us with great force, knocking us down like twigs before he burst into ash. Cates and Monroe were helping us up, when the thing dragged itself into our torchlight.
I screamed and back peddled on hand and heels toward the hall that we had come in from, now knowing why Bernard was scared to death to go down. It was hideous, whatever it was. It resembled Fala in some ways, with its massive snout full of teeth, only it had no hair and it smelt of pure death. Its arms were dripping gore from bone and tissue that looked as if would pop at any moment. It stomped on backward feet and twisted legs, opening its mouth while it shook its head, slinging Bernard’s blood and gore everywhere.
“Kill it!” Tammy yelled as it towered over her, its mangled genitals swinging grossly between its legs. She held her arm up, not to ward off its bite, but to block the horror that was dripping from its rotting, dead flesh. “Get it away from me!”
Derek made a move to swing his blade at it, but it knocked him into the wall like he was nothing but a speck of dust. I couldn’t understand how it could be so strong if it was barely held together with decayed bits.
“Jacob, his leg,” Monroe called out, readying his own weapon toward the thing. “Wolf beast, his snout!” Fala ignored Monroe and continued to give Derek aid.
“Fala, we need you!” Jacob yelled.
“Get it off of me!” Tammy screamed.
“Fala!” I screamed.
Fala threw back his wolf head and let out a sound that put chills over my entire body and made me very grateful he was on our side. He turned as he stood, stormed over and latched his forearm around the thing’s huge snout and clamped it shut.
“Cates, take the back of the neck until you remove the head. Jacob, on the count of three. One…”
“No! Wait! Not over me,” Tammy cried out.
“Two, three!”
Jacob, Monroe, and Cates swung their blades in unison and the beast fell where it had been standing. Garvin grabbed one of Tammy’s feet and Sydney the other, pulling her free right before the thing hit the ground. Cates stepped over its severed legs and finished what he had started by removing its head. “There is always a first time for everything, yes, Master Jacob?”
“Yes, Master Cates. That is indeed one for our journals.”
“What the hell was that thing?” I asked, sliding back into the room from the hall.
“Now you join the fun,” Jacob raised one brow.
“I was…just watching our backs from the other way. Yeah, it scared the crap out of me and I was getting out of the way, so there. Tammy, you okay?”
“And she changes the subject,” Derek laughed.
“Hey, whose side are you on anyway?” I bumped him as I walked by.
“I do not think it wise to go down,” Fala said in his gruff voice. “Even the cats have disappeared.”
“That’s right, where did Lane and Luther go?”
“They are not a violent being and more than likely went home,” Monroe said.
“If that’s true, then why did you and your buddy kill their friends?” Derek asked, pushing the thing's arm away from him with his foot, while holding his own arm where he had made contact with the wall.
“Reed had no stopping point. Two slices with his blade and it was too late, the other two barely got away before I could stop him.”
“You know, why is everyone, all of the sudden, supposed to just trust you anyway? You may be his long lost brother and all, but maybe that’s the card these elder people are playing. Have any of you even thought about that?” Derek looked around the room. “How did he know how to kill this walking dead wolf?”
“You remove the head on all walking dead,” Monroe replied coldly. “Why would I ask your mistress to mark me as she has you if I were setting a trap for the elders?”
“Let’s get one thing straight right here, right now. Renee didn’t just mark me buddy,” Derek poked Monroe in the chest. “She is my maker and I will kill any who even remotely think about harming her. Do I make myself clear, asshole?”
“Then you are looking in the wrong direction. Do I make myself clear, anus?”
“If I don’t get this shit off of me, I’m going to kill everyone. So, shut the hell up and get out of my damn way!” Tammy pushed past Monroe and Derek, continuing down through the stone hall with Cates right behind her.
Cates returned a few seconds later. “She’ll need something to cover her…” he made a move over his chest with his hands. “She’ll need to borrow a shirt.” He looked around at all the boys. “Her chest is so…never mind.” He disappeared back through the opening.
“If even one of you laugh, I will pop you,” I whispered holding up my finger and fighting back a smile. ***
Alex was coughing and yelling out for anyone to come help free him before he choked to death. The smoke was filtering in through the same air vents that were meant to keep breathable air in the lower levels. Martin was working diligently, trying to move the stones that had collapsed in the narrow passageway that would lead them to safety in the tunnels.
“Martin, I’m scared.”
“No need, the ceiling will hold. Just keep moving the smaller stones, we will be through soon.”
“What about Alex? He could help us.”
“It is best to leave him be. He could also try and take our lives and go back to his own, little one. I cannot have your safety in more jeopardy than it already is.”
“Are we going to die down here, Martin? I mean, if we can’t get through this tunnel? Is there only one way out?”
Martin didn’t reply he just dropped the stone he was moving and took Tanda into his embrace.
Chapter Thirty
It was very apparent that the twin sisters had gotten away, and with my ring to boot. We knew that Bernard had said that Inara had plans on hitting the open water if things didn’t go as she had planned and that sure didn’t happen. They didn’t go according to mine either but all of London was on the run. Lord Cheree was a pile of ash and Angelica’s fine castle estate wouldn’t stand when we were finished. I, for one, wasn’t going down into the dark with God only knows what, so we closed the trap wall and headed back to the ballroom.
As for Angelica’s whereabouts, it was just a guess but it was likely that she wouldn’t be boarding a boat with her sister. Monroe said he saw several coming and going from a little village south of London, fairly deep in the woods. He had followed them one night when he and his companion first made it into London, thinking they were us. It would be up to the whole group to make the decision on whether or not we would go after her. The open water was a different subject all together and not knowing which way a traveler goes, it is next to impossible to track them.
“Tear the curtains down and lay them at the base of each fireplace. It will not take long to catch and burn this place to the ground. If Angelica did go up and not make her escape, she will wish she had,” Cates said, and then belted out a laugh.
“My demented man,” Tammy shook her head and then started tugging on the curtain closest to her.
“Go and open every door to the outside that you can find,” Jacob said to no one person.
“Why?” Derek asked.
“So, if there are any inside, they will not be trapped by the fire.”
“And if it’s the ones we want trapped inside?”
“You are as stubborn as your maker,” Jacob growled with his brows pulled in.
“With a compliment like that how can I refuse those orders?” Derek shrugged looked at me, then looked back at Jacob. “I’m opening the doors, great one.” Derek gave Jacob a mocking bow and took off.
“If you had been much older, I would have sworn he was your given son,” Jacob yanked the curtain down next to me. “He is a good man.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll keep him.” I took the curtain from Jacob and dragged the enormous thing over to where Garvin and Sydney were feeding them into the fireplace’s massive girth. Fala was doing the same at the matching fireplace across the great room.
Once the ballroom was ablaze, we ran to the other main rooms on the first floor and set every room on fire that had a fireplace and then ran out the front. Our drivers had already moved our coaches onto the main road when everyone left and remained there to my surprise. I guess Martin had given them a very strict order to wait for our return. We ran to the gates and then turned to watch the beautiful home of the most powerful of London go up in flames. One would not think a stone structure could burn as brilliantly as a wooden one, but they do.
“Something burns to the north,” Fala said.
“I wonder what that could be?” Tammy added, as she tied the makeshift piece of material across her torso, covering the most important areas.
“Do we have time to get to Inara’s and set her big house ablaze like this?” Derek asked, still looking at the one we just set on fire.
“The sun will rise in two, maybe three, hours. I think we should make our way back to Martin’s home,” Garvin added as he leaned back on the gate showing he was ready for this night to end.
“Well, I say we go burn that bitch's house to the ground, get in the tunnels after, and make our way back tomorrow night. Tanda and Martin are as safe as they can get in the lower levels.”
“Unless that is Martin’s home burning,” Fala replied.
That was all that Derek needed to hear, sending him and I running for the coaches. Derek jumped up by the driver and took control of the horse, while we piled into the coaches. My mind was running like mad. All I could think of was what if the twins did have Martin’s home burnt to the ground while we were playing dress-up at some stupid gala. I know it was to make a strategic stand by taking down the head seats, but we got one leader and took down one house. If Martin’s home was taken down then we didn’t do crap in my books, and all was for nothing. And if he and Tanda were harmed in any way what so ever, there would be more than a few die in London. I would make damn sure that all who were involved would pay.
“Faster Derek, faster!”
“They’re going as fast as they can, Renee!”
“Why couldn’t we be made with wings?!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“They’ll be okay, they’re underground. They will, won’t they?” Tammy spoke, first to me but then looked over at Cates.
“The stone is good, but the tunnels are weak. There could be a few collapses under the side structure of the foundation, depending on how much weight falls to the stone floor above or the earth to the side; if it truly is his place that is on fire. Many things in London burn.”
Before I could answer, Jacob yelled from the other coach that it was Martin’s home and that we would soon be there. My heart sank, even though I had already had a feeling that it was. The coaches started to slow outside the gates and we were leaping out before they could stop. Once out, all that I could do was put my hands on the top of my head. I could not believe what I was seeing. What we had left hours ago was nothing like what we drove up to witness. The top floor on the left side had collapsed and the outer wall was leaning in as flames reached for the sky. The wooden arch over the front entrance came crashing down, throwing debris and sparks all the way to the gate where we were standing.
“There has to be another way in other than the way we came in that first night. That way would take too long and we would end up falling to the light of day before we ever made it to the tunnels entrance.” Jacob kicked a piece of burning ember.
“It would have to be at the back, right? That swampy stuff is to the right and all the way around that cemetery, unless one of those graves is the door to the tunnel, of course,” Derek rambled.
“What did you say?” Jacob asked.
“What? That it has to be in the back?”
“No, about the grave.”
“I was just saying that maybe the door to Martin’s secret tunnel is one of those graves. They have huge headstones and look what watches over that weird place. I doubt many that go in there come back out to talk about it.”
“You have a wonderful mind.” Jacob kissed Derek on the cheek. “Hurry, we must go find where Martin buried his father.”
Neither Jacob nor I, had told the others what Martin had told us about his real father, the one who raised him. So, I didn’t correct Jacob when he called the man who once owned this place, Martin’s father. My worry lies only on finding those we left below its foundation. ***
With one hard push, Martin broke through into the first tunnel that would take them to the tunnel that would lead to their safety. He pushed more of the earth out of the way then reached back for Tanda to take his hand. “Come, I think you will fit.”
“I can’t go without you.”
“Once you get on the other side you will go until the narrow breaks into a ‘T’ then you will go left…”
“Stop it, Martin. I won’t do it! But I will go through and start digging from the other side until you can fit. But, do not say another word on my leaving you here. It will not happen.”
“I have a great deal to learn about this new way of thinking, don’t I?”
“I’m afraid you do.” Tanda got down on her stomach and pulled herself through the small, oval opening with Martin pushing on her feet once she was halfway through. “Now start pushing some of these loose rocks towards me and I will roll them away.”
“The earth is weak above the stones that have fallen. We must hurry if we do not wish this to be our final resting place,” Martin smiled through the dirt on his face as he pushed one of the large, square stones toward Tanda. “I, for one, would rather not be a part of this city’s thousands of unknowns in these miserable tunnels.”
“I think if you shove some of the dirt from here,” Tanda dug her hands into the mound of debris on the left side of the opening, “it will become large enough for you to slide through.”
“How many stones do you see above your head?”
Tanda searched the tainted air, trying to see through the dimly lit area that held a fine layer of mist-type dust that had been created from the aftermath. “I can’t tell; it’s too hard to see. Should I try to feel for it?”
“No, you may cause more to come down on top of you. Stay there, I will be right back.” A few minutes later, Martin returned with a burning torch. “Move back so I can hand this to you.”
Tanda took the flaming light and made her way down the pile of collapsed ceiling debris and wall ruble, where the two had caved in when the house had given way to its own weight. Shock took the words that she tried to articulate as she looked at the roots of the plants from the earth above. There was no stone above her head where she and Martin were digging, and it was only the side walls and the intertwining of the roots that was keeping all that she saw from coming down.
“What do you see?”
“We have to hurry.”
“That is not what I asked you, but it is answer enough.”
Tanda stuck the end of the torch into the soft earth and she and Martin began to work in haste. ***
Jacob ran past the side iron gate, but I stopped, and then yelled out for him to do the same. “Wouldn’t this be shorter?” I watched as he slowed and lowered his head. He turned and put his hand on his hip as he began walking back toward me. By the time he got to where I was standing, the rest were stopping behind me.
“We have to go over this when we could simply move the wood stack and go over the shorter cemetery fence and start looking from a corner angle.” I could tell by the description of his plan that he was perturbed at me.
“Then go, Jacob. Take the ones who have a hard time going over this wall with you and I’ll take the others with me. We will find Martin’s Pa’s grave even faster. But, if you get shitty with me like that one more time, I don’t care what we’re doing, I’m gonna kick your ass so hard you’ll be taking off your pants to get a drink.”
“Talk about gettin’ it around the ears,” Derek snickered, then covered his mouth. Once he saw Jacob glaring at him, he quickly scaled the wall by way of the gates hinges.
Cates and Tammy were already moving in the direction of the exit by way of the secret hole in the wall, while Garvin and Sydney followed Derek. Fala stood at my back as I waited for Jacob to reply.
“When things have settled you will have to explain why kicking ones ass would cause them to remove their pants to partake of fluids. Your words made no sense to me at all. No matter, once you reach the main gate, stay to the right until you have made your way to the far wall, then start working your way to the middle isle, reading the headstones and we will do the same. Fala, it seems, is already doing his job but keep Garvin’s eyes watching the direction that he is not.”
“Yes, daddy,” I smiled. “Make sure you all watch out for those pig things and those shifter ghosts.”
“Those words I understand.”
Jacob reached out and touched my cheek then turned and ran with Monroe at his heels. I looked up at Fala who only shrugged. I was about to say something to Fala when he lifted me into midair so I could grab the top of the gate and wall, pull myself over and jump down to the other side. A few seconds later, he landed beside me. He was as good in human form as he was in his wolf, or what he liked to call, his natural form.
When Fala’s body went ridged, my worry went from those whom I was praying were safe where we left them, to hoping we all stayed safe until we made it underground. A wave a nauseating stench floated on the night air, much like the odor that comes from a cow carcass that had been bloating in the sun for several days and just burst. That’s when I started searching for my three boys who went over the wall before we had. We were almost to the cemetery entrance when Fala and I both saw something that I hadn’t even thought about it. Fleshers.
“Are those like the ones that we killed by the church?” I whispered as Fala and I hid behind some overgrown hedges about five feet from the gate that would lead into the cemetery.
“I believe they are all the same if they are hungry. These have a scent as if they have recently fed on the foul insides of their kill. Not all would do that, my people would not do that,” Fala said, sounding disgusted at the last. “I do not mean to overstep my place, but we must prevent crossing their path at all cost if possible, and should maybe go over the wall at this point.”
“You do know you’re free to do whatever you want, don’t you? If you have something to say, Fala, you are welcome to say it.” I took his hand. “I’m glad you’re here, for many reasons. We need you Fala.”
A loud, animalistic growl reverberated throughout the surrounding area. Fala had his hand on my back, pushing me down as he leaned over in a protective manner. As soon as things became quiet, we stayed close to the ground and moved closer to the stone wall. Fala stood taking a look around, then faster than I would have liked, yanked me up and tossed me over. I know the sound I made had to be heard but I was hoping I hadn’t sounded any different than the rest of the high pitched birds that had sang out when one of the fleshers gave its yell.
I was wrong; I could hear the crazed beast running in our direction. I heard Fala say ‘stay down’ right before I heard bones popping and his voice go from that of a man to a very big animal. “Run, Renee!” Fala growled as he took off running toward the three that were as horrible as any that we had seen. I rushed to the wall and jumped, grabbed the top and tried to pull myself up. I had to help Fala. The silence was broken with the yells from both flesher and wolf. I dropped down and ran to the gate and began climbing it, only to be yanked backwards.
“What the hell?”
“Sorry, My Lady, but I will go,” Monroe said, and then was gone.
“You okay?” Derek asked, and was over the gate before I could respond.
I felt something grab my arm and I screamed.
“Renee, it’s just me, Sydney.”
He and I reached for the gate at the same time that Fala and the flesher crashed into it. Fala spun himself and the flesher around, and put the death smelling beast up against the wrought iron gate. Fala then grabbed its head and smashed it into the iron ribs of the gate. Blood and bits of bone sprayed Sydney and I from face to knees. Sydney started swatting at his face like a mad man, took his jacket off, and tried to clean off the flesher's remains.
Monroe, Derek, and Fala made their way over the gate, explaining that any predator close to the area, with more fleshers being high on the list, would soon smell the death of the flesher. Monroe said they were probably seeing if there had been any recent burials that they could grave-rob; eating the corpse and taking anything the dead may have, from clothing to jewelry to make trade with. But would more than likely stop where they found the stench of death and consume the fallen.
“Somebody’s coming,” Derek whispered, waving his hand for all of us to get down.
We hurried to get in the shadow of the trees and headstones on the first row of graves on the right side of the enormous cemetery. The footsteps sounded heavy the closer they got, and my thoughts were it was more fleshers coming to the aid of their friends. I was feeling around for a branch when I saw Garvin squatted down by a cross shaped headstone on an above the ground grave, with a branch as big as Sydney’s club in his hands. He put his finger to his mouth and then leveled the branch at his shoulder. The being got closer, Garvin swung and I looked up in time to see Tammy’s face over the side of the headstone that I was hiding behind.
“Garvin…” It was too late. Tammy went sprawling face first.
“Oh shit!” Derek added as we all rushed to her side.
